c 


INUVEBUTY  OF  ILUWHS  UBBAir 

IE  XIX. 


NUMBER  2 


George  Washington  University 

Bulletin 


I.-THE    NINETY^NPNT.H    COMMENCEMENT, 
MAY  31,  1920. 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  BRITISH  AMBASSADOR. 


II. -UNIVERSITY  ANNOUNCEMENTS. 

III.— ADDRESSES   BY   PRESIDENT  COLLIER  AND   PRO- 
FESSOR  STAFFORD. 


MAY,    1920 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  UNIVERSITY  AT  WASHINGTON,  D.  C,  MONTHLY  DURING 
THE  UNIVERSITY  YEAR,  OCTOBER  TO  MAY  INCLUSIVE,  EIGHT  TIMES  A  YEAR 


Entered  October  6,  1904,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 
as  second-class  matter  under  Act  of  Congress  of  July  16,  1894 


ENROLLMENT  FOR  1919-20 

The  enrollment  for  the  university  year,  1919-20, 
which  began  with  the  opening  of  the  Summer  Schools 
in  June,  1919,  immediately  after  the  Annual  Commence- 
ment,  is  as  follows: — 

Summer  School,  Arts  and  Sciences  .     .  460 

Summer  School,  Law 207 

Total  Summer  Schools 667 

Note: — This  exceeds  the  previous  year,  Sum- 
mer Schools,  by  280.  It  is  confidently  ex- 
pected that  next  year's  Summer  Schools 
will    have  an    enrollment  of  at  least  800. 

Enrollment  in  the  yearly  courses 
which  began  with  the  re-opening  of  the 
University  on  September  24th,  1919, 
has  been  as  follows: — 

Arts  and  Sciences: 

The  Graduate  School 205 

Columbian  College 1888 

College  of  Engineering    ......  530 

The  Teacher's  College 334 

Total  Arts  and  Sciences    . 2957 

Medical  School 117 

Dental  School 74 

Pharmacy  School 12 

Nurses'  Training  School .31 

Total  for  Medical  Dept.  including  nurses     .     234 

Law  School .     752 

Total,  exclusive  of  Summer  Schools 3943 

Grand  total  of  Students  enrolled  be- 
tween the  Commencement  of  June 
18,  1919,  and  May  17th,  1920,  in- 
cluding Summer  Schools  of  June — 
August,  1919 , 4610 

Estimated  gross  enrollment  (excluding 
duplicates)  during  the  previous  year, 
19184919      .     .     . J*3068 

Gain  in  gross  enrollment,  present  year 
up  to  May  17th,  1920,  over  entire 
period  of  previous  year 1542 

Number  of  enrolled  students  on  March  17,  1920  **2968 
Number  of  enrolled  students  on  May      12,  1919  **1780 

Gain  over  last  year    .....*...         1188 

*This  number  which  includes  about  one  halt  ot  the  491  members  ot  The  Student  Army 
Training  Corps  and  about  one  half  of  the  387  students  in  the  Summer  Schools  (that  being  the 
number  estimated  as  not  having  re-enrolled  in  regular  classes)  was  about  700  more  than  the 
largest  previous  enrollment  in  any  year  in  the  University's  history. 

**The  figures  for  May  each  year  are  less  than  the  total  enrollment  tor  the  corresponding 
year  because  they  do  not  include:  (a)  students  in  summer  courses;  (b)  graduates  at  the  Con- 
vocations in  October  and  February;  (c)  students  who  have  been  obliged  to  give  up  their  courses 
after  enrolling. 


THE  NEW  BUILDING  OF  THE  LAW  SCHOOL 
1435  K  Street,  McPherson  Square,  formerly  The  Department  of  Justice 


THE  ANNUAL  COMMENCEMENT. 

The  Ninety-ninth  Annual  Commencement  of  George 
Washington  University  was  held  in  Central  High  School 
Auditorium  on  Monday  evening,  May  the  thirty-first,  1920. 
Promptly  at  eight  o'clock  the  academic  procession  entered 
the  hall.  Leading  the  procession  were  the  three  senior 
marshals,  John  Paul  Earnest,  Solomon  Shappirio  and  John 
William  Townsend,  and  following  them  the  officers  of 
the  university,  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  re- 
cipients of  honorary  degrees,  presidents  of  other  univer- 
sities and  other  guests,  members  of  the  University  Council, 
deans,  the  faculties  and  the  candidates  for  degrees. 

Immediately  after  the  invocation  had  been  pronounced 
by  the  Reverend  Herbert  F.  Randolph,  D.  D.,  minister  of 
the  Foundry  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  President  Collier 
introduced  the  Commencement  Orator,  His  Excellency,  the 
Right  Honorable  Sir  Auckland  Campbell  Geddes,  K.  C.  B., 
M.  D.,  M.  B.,  Ch.  B.  (Edinburgh),  British  Ambassador  at' 
Washington,  whose  address  is  printed  elsewhere  in  this 
bulletin. 

After  an  appropriate  musical  selection,  the  President 
proceeded  to  confer  degrees  in  course  upon  two  hundred 
and  fifty-seven  candidates.  After  a  few  words  of  practi- 
cal advice  to  the  graduates,  President  Collier  wished  them 
Godspeed  in  entering  upon  larger  fields  of  activity. 

The  President  then  proceeded  to  the  conferment  of  hon- 
orary degrees,  the  Secretary  investing  each  of  the  recipients 
with  the  hood  appropriate  to  his  degree.  In  conferring  the 
degrees,  President  Collier  said: 

DOCTOR  OF  DIVINITY 

James  Townsend  RussEee,  a  graduate  and  a  trustee  of  Kenyon  Col- 
lege, Master  of  Arts,  Honorary,  from  Hobart  College.  A  former  lec- 
turer on  the  English  Bible  and  Prayer  Book  in  Bexley  Theological 
School.  At  present  one  of  the  Canons  of  the  Washington  Cathedral. 
A  faithful  servant  of  the  Church,  an  enthusiastic  patron  of  the  arts, 
a  generous  friend  of  education. 

DOCTOR  OF  DIVINITY 

Herbert  Shipman,  Rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Heavenly  Rest,  in 
New  York  City.  Formerly  the  Chaplain  of  the  United  States  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point ;  recently  a  Chaplain  with  the  forces  overseas 
at  the  front;  a  Christian  soldier  in  war;  a  militant  Christian  in  peace. 
Against  all  the  foes  of  human  welfare,  a  valiant  wielder  of  the  sword 
of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon. 


DOCTOR  OF  SCIENCE 

Edward  William  Nelson,  explorer,  naturalist,  conservationist,  au- 
thor of  numerous  authoritative  books  and  reports  relating  to  Botany 
and  Ornithology;  today  Chie.f  of  the  Biological  Survey  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture.  The  last  writing  that  Theodore  Roosevelt  did 
was  a  review  of  "Wild  Animals  of  North  America"  written  by  Mr. 
Nelson  and  published  by  the  National  Geographic  Society.  I  think 
it  fitting  to  quote  from  it.     Mr.  Roosevelt  said : 

"Mr.  Nelson  is  one  of  the  best  and  keenest  naturalists  we  have  ever 
had,  and  a  man  of  singularly  balanced  development.  He  is  a  trained 
laboratory  and  closet  scientist.  He  is  a  field  naturalist  of  wide  experi- 
ence from  Alaska  to  Mexico.  He  is  an  exceptionally  close  and  accu- 
rate observer.  He  is  able  to  deduce  the  truth  from  the  facts  he  has 
seen;  and  he  has  the  gift  of  recording  this  truth  with  power  and 
charm.  *  *  *  The  animal  life  histories  written  by  him  surpass 
anything  of  the  kind  that  we  have  yet  had  on  so  considerable  a  scale. 
They  are  better  than  the  excellent  life  histories  of  mammals  by  Audu- 
bon and  Bachman,  and  the  few  good  recent  studies  have  covered  much 
smaller  fields ;  *  *  *  No  other  observer  has  done  such  admirable 
work  in  regions  faunistically  so  remote,  ranging  from  the  Arctic  tun- 
dras to  the  hot  deserts." 

DOCTOR  OF  LAWS. 

Warren  Gamaliel  Harding,  a  Senator  of  the  United  States  from 
the  State  of  Ohio  ;  a  typical  American.  A  product  as  well  as  a  protec- 
tor of  the  institutions  of  the  United  States  ;  champion  of  its  Constitu- 
tion as  the  bulwark  of  the  Nation's  existence;  believer  in  its  adapta- 
bility, by  reasonable  modifications,  to  the  progressive  development  of 
the  country.  Opponent  of  those  radical  changes  that  would  undermine 
our  national  independence  by  subordinating  it  to  other  nations  or  that 
would  overthrow  popular  representative  government  either  by  subject- 
ing it  to  the  domination  of  officials  of  high  position  or  to  the  dictation 
of  organized  minority  groups.  Endowed  with  vision,  but  preferring 
to  walk  on  the  established  highway  with  the  Lamp  of  Experience  for 
his  feet  rather  than  to  follow  the  Will-o'-the-Wisp  into  unknown 
marshes. 

# 

DOCTOR  OF  LAWS 

Irvine  Luther  Lenroot,  for  ten  years  a  member  of  the  National 
House  of  Representatives ;  today  United  States  Senator  from  the  State 
of  Wisconsin ;  an  orator  of  wide  repute,  a  debater  of  great  acumen,  a 
legislator  possessing  the  politician's  sense  of  the  public  wish  and  the 
statesman's  conception  of  the  nation's  needs.  Firm  in  the  faith  of  the 
Fathers  of  the  Country,  but  aware  that  the  Fathers  were  the  first  and 
foremost  of  Progressives,  and  that  the  Government  can  endure  and 
can  promote  the  public  welfare  only  by  adopting  new  agencies  and 
new  methods  for  the  solution  of  the  new  problems  created  by  new 
conditions. 

DOCTOR  OF  LAWS 

A.  Mitchell  Palmer,  Attorney  General  of  the  United  States ; 
formerly  for  many  years  a  Representative  in  Congress.  In  legislative 
as  well  as  executive  positions — in  thought,  word  and  action — a  cham- 
pion of  the  principles  that  respect  for  law  is  essential  to  order  and 
progress  and  that  obedience  to  just  government  is  the  only  method  of 
securing  individual  rights  or  promoting  individual  happiness.  The 
object  of  venomous  and  violent  attacks  by  sedition  and  anarchy  and 
by  those  who  have  not  the  courage  to  defend  the  nation  from  those 
enemies,  he  is,  nevertheless,  secure  in  the  hearts  of  the  law-abiding  and 
the  liberty-loving. 

3 


DOCTOR  OF  LAWS 

John  Joseph  Pershing,  General  of  the  Armies  of  the  United  States. 
He  has  attained  the  chief  command  because,  from  the  lowest  rank  to 
the  highest,  the  tasks  assigned  to  him  have  been  promptly  done,  thor- 
oughly done,  faithfully  done.  The  path  of  duty  has  been  the  way  to 
glory.  Endowed  with  modesty,  as  well  as  with  military  genius,  we  may 
truly  say  of  him  as  Tennyson  said  of  Wellington : 

"Our  greatest   yet  with   least   pretence, 
Great  in  council  and  great  in  war, 
Foremost  captain  of  his  time, 
Rich  in  saving  common-sense, 
And,  as  the  greatest  only  are, 
In  his  simplicity  sublime." 

DOCTOR  OF  LAWS 

Auckland  Campbeu,  Geddes,  educator,  soldier,  administrator,  diplo- 
mat ;  for  many  years  a  Professor  of  Anatomy  in  the  University  of 
Edinburgh  and  in  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  at  Dublin;  later 
Minister  of  Reconstruction  of  Great  Britain;  displaying  in  the  first 
position  profound  knowledge  of  the  human  body  and  in  the  second, 
consummate  skill  in  putting  together  the  shattered  body-politic ;  today 
as  British  Ambassador  to  the  United  States  demonstrating  that  he 
understands  human  nature  as  well  as  the  human  frame.  This  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Laws  is  conferred  upon  him  as  a  recognition  of  his  own 
pre-eminent  talents  and  achievements  and  his  invaluable  services  to  his 
country  and  to  humanity;  also  as  a  compliment  to  the  great  sister  in- 
stitution of  learning,  McGill  University,  of  which  he  was  principal- 
elect  when  accredited  to  the  United  States ;  and  also  a  tribute  of  our 
admiration  and  gratitude  to  the  mighty  Empire  which  he  so  worthily 
represents  and  whose  laws  and  customs  and  institutions  have  so  pro- 
foundly influenced  those  of  our  own  land  and  have  served  as  an  in- 
spiration to  freemen  everywhere. 

Immediately  after  the  British  Ambassador  had  been  in- 
vested with  the  hood  the  band  played  the  national  anthem 
of  Great  Britain  and,  after  a  brief  pause,  "The  Star  Spangled 
Banner." 

The  benediction  was  then  pronounced  by  the  Reverend 
Dr.  Randolph  and  the  academic  procession  moved  out  of 
the  hall. 


COMMENCEMENT  ADDRESS 

OF 

SIR  AUCKLAND  CAMPBELL  GEDDES 

British  Ambassador  at  Washington 
BEFORE 

George  Washington  University 
May  31,  1920 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

Tonight  many  of  you  pass  a  milestone  on  the  road  of  life 
— birth,  school,  college,  graduation,  are  the  common  land- 
marks in  the  p  re-professional  life  of  the  university  man. 
Of  these  the  graduation  stone  is  in  many  cases  the  most 
memorable,  for  just  beyond  it  comes  the  point  at  which"  all 
must  leave  the  highway  they  have  trodden  with  the  care- 
free crowd  of  their  contemporaries  to  pass  into  the  jungle 
of  life  and  cut  their  own  trail.  For  most  the  bush  is  thick 
and  thorny;  the  ground  rough  and  rocky.  He  is  rare  who 
never  casts  regretful  longings  backward  to  the  road  that 
ended  for  him  just  beyond  the  graduation  mile. 

One  peculiarity  of  that  jungle  is  that  none  who  has  gone 
before  can  tell  the  new  recruit  what  difficulties  he  will  meet 
or  what  clearings  he  may  hope  to  find.  Still  an  elder  mem- 
ber of  the  brotherhood  of  university  graduates  may  be  able 
to  peer  a  little  farther  through  the  bush  or  perhaps  his 
acquired  knowledge  of  life-woodcraft  may  make  it  not  too 
unwise  for  him  to  give  advice  that  may  save  some  bleed- 
ing feet. 

Let  us  take  a  general  view,  if  possible  a  world  view,  for 
a  few  moments. 

I  doubt  if  ever  before  was  the  future  for  so  many  na- 
tions, as  many  individuals,  so  closely  shrouded  in  dark 
clouds  pregnant  with  storm.  As  one  looks  ahead  there  is 
little  light  save  when  dazzling  flash  on  flash  writes  a  great 
interrogation  on  the  murky  background. 

In  Europe  we  know  that  an  age  is  dying.  Here  it  would 
be  easy  to  miss  the  signs  of  coming  change,  but  I  have  lit- 
tle doubt  that  it  will  come. 

A  realization  of  the  aimlessness  of  life  lived  to  labor 
and  to  die,  having  achieved  nothing  but  avoidance  of  star- 
vation and  the  birth  of  children  also  doomed  to  the  weary 
treadmill  has  seized  the  minds  of  millions.  The  lightnings 
as  they  flash  the  great  interrogation  sear  their  eyes.     They 

5 


ask  Why  ?  They  say  to  one  another  Why  ?  They  look  and 
see,  others  who  picnic  by  flowery  paths  while  life  slips  by, 
themselves  and  their  like  grimy  with  toil  and  spent  with 
labor.  For  them  evening  and  morning,  night  and  day, 
storm  and  shine  pose  the  same  problem — Why  ? 

You  and  we  and  all  our  allies  have  fought  together  the 
greatest  war  that  was  ever  fought — we  have  suffered  and 
inflicted  untold  misery.  Millions  of  young  men  have  gone 
to  their  death  serene  in  the  faith  that  they  died  for  a  cause 
worthy  of  sacrifice.  Millions  more  have  died  angry  and 
protesting  and  asking — Why?  Why  was  life  and  happiness 
and  love  not  for  them?  Why  were  they  doomed  to  suffer 
incredible  hells  on  earth? 

Questioning  everything,  accepting  nothing,  humanity 
moves  once  more.  So  far,  only  the  swell  of  the  storm 
centered  in  Europe  laps  your  coasts;  yet  your  daily  press 
is  already  filled  with  news  of  strikes  of  what  is  vaguely 
called  industrial  unrest. 

We  all  know  that  it  was  your  tradition  to  keep  clear  of 
European  entanglements — here  is  a  European  disentangle- 
ment that  is  already  piling  the  waters  on  your  social 
beaches,  a  disentanglement  of  the  complicated  interweav- 
ing of  man  and  man  in  the  social  fabric. 

Into  a  storm-racked  world  you  new  graduates  have  to 
pass  and  press  forward  in  a  struggle  demanding  your  every 
effort.     To  press  forward,  yes;  but  whither? 

I  have  asked  myself  that  question  all  my  conscious  years. 
In  search  of  an  answer  I  have  read  many  books,  some  that 
men  would  call  sacred,  some  the  reverse.  I  have  tried  to 
understand  anatomy  and  embryology  in  the  widest  mean- 
ings of  those  terms.  I  have  studied  comparative  religion 
and  have  trodden  slowly  and  laboriously  in  the  footsteps 
of  Sir  James  Frazer  in  his  mazy  dance  around  "The  Gol- 
den Bough."  I  have  searched  the  poets.  I  have  spent 
years  about  the  business  and  I  still  ask  myself — "Wither?" 

I  cannot  tell  you.  I  do  not  know.  But  some  things  have 
become  clear  to  me. 

First,  I  believe  that  there  is  a  great  purpose  running 
through  all  our  strivings  which  is  not  of  us,  but  from  above 
us.  The  end  to  which  that  purpose  moves  is  impenetrably 
hidden   from  mortal  eyes,  but  the  direction  in  which  the 

6 


end  lies,  the  direction  in  which  we   should   move,   is  not 
hidden,  but  clear. 

We  are  not  as  beasts.  We  have  power  to  choose  and 
to  decide.  We  are  not  physically  great  and  powerful  cre- 
atures. We  have  not  horns  and  hoofs  and  scales.  But 
though  our  bodies  are  weak  and  soft,  our  brains  are  things 
of  marvel,  and  through  those  brains  there  comes  to  each 
of  us  many  different  thoughts  and  promptings,  but  to  all 
of  us  come  three  that  are  not  animal  in  origin,  are  not 
concerned  with  the  life  of  the  body,  but  are,  I  believe,  beams 
from  spiritual  lighthouses  for  the  guidance  of  our  earthly 
voyage. 

I  used  to  be  a  teacher  and  was  happier  teaching  than  I 
have  ever  been  before  or  since,  but  as  I  look  back  I  see  that 
my  pupils  taught  me  nearly  all  that  really  matters  which  I 
know.  They  taught  me  that  in  my  years  of  study,  in  my 
delvings  into  books,  in  my  work  in  the  research  laboratory, 
I  had  been  looking  in  the  wrong  place  for  the  answer  I 
sought.  .  They  taught  me  that  the  book  which  contained  the 
truth  was  the  human  heart. 

In  that  warm  palpitating  book  I  read  and  learned  that 
each  of  us  had  a  desire  inborn,  an  instinct,  if  you  will,  for 
beauty;  a  desire  to  serve  his  fellows;  a  desire  to  know  the 
truth. 

I  do  not  mean  that  each  sees  beauty  as  each  other  sees  it. 
But  within  the  range  of  his  understanding,  within  the  lim- 
its of  his  vision,  each  desires  beauty  in  his  surroundings, 
beauty  of  form,  beauty  of  color,  beauty  of  sound. 

Again,  I  do  not  mean  that  each  sees  service  to  his  fel- 
lows in  the  same  light,  but  the  impulse  to  serve,  the  in- 
stinct of  altruism,  is  in  the  heart  of  each. 

Again,  I  do  not  mean  that  each  is  interested  in  the  same 
branch  of  knowledge,  but  the  desire  to  know  the  truth  is 
there. 

What  I  do  mean  is  that  each  young  soul,  still  tender  from 
its  earthly  birth  and  not  hardened  by  the  hammer  of  the 
world,  has  these  three  longings.  It  is  true  that  the  first, 
the  desire  for  beauty,  links  with  the  impulse  of  sex;  that 
the  second,  the  desire  for  service,  links  with  the  most  won- 
derful of  the  animal  instincts,  mother  love,  yet  each  is  so 

1 


different  from  its  linked  animal  instinct  as  to  be  separate 
from  it.  The  third,  the  desire  for  truth,  links  with 
nothing  that  I  know  of,  unless  it  be  the  instinct  of  curios- 
ity. 

In  many  adults  these  spiritual  desires  are  atrophied  and 
have  ceased  to  trouble  or  to  guide  the  man  or  woman,  but 
in  simple  people  they  are,  apt  to  remain  alive  in  a  way  and 
to  an  extent  that  astonishes  the  sophisticated.  To  retain 
the  eyes  of  the  child,  to  see  the  world  anew  every  morn- 
ing, is  a  privilege  shared  by  few  of  the  learned  and  fewer 
still  of  what  men  call  the  successful. 

In  some  the  desire  for  knowledge  is  atrophied,  though 
the  other  two  remain.  In  more  the  desires  for  knowledge 
and  for  service  are  atrophied,  though  the  desire  for  beauty 
remains,  but  these  are  maimed  beings  who  have  lost  some- 
thing more  wonderful  and  more  precious  than  any  wealth 
or  any  position  can  buy. 

The  great  danger  which  attaches  to  university  education 
is  that  it  kills  the  thirsts  for  beauty  and  service  and  limits 
the  desire  for  knowledge  to  the  field  of  a  microscope — 
sometimes  to  the  field  of  a  high-power  oil  immersion  ob- 
jective and  replaces  the  glad  free  roaming  after  truth  by  a 
seeking  for  all  knowledge  in  the  slime  of  the  cart  rut. 
That  is  the  danger  of  specialization. 

One  of  the  reasons  for  the  present  mental  turmoil  of 
the  peoples  is  that  their  leaders  have  lost  the  spiritual  in- 
stincts, while  they  in  some  measure  have  retained  theirs. 
The  simple  know  less  and  feel  more,  and  despise  those  who 
know  more  and  feel  less. 

That  is  the  danger.  Knowing  nothing,  or  at  best,  little 
of  the  civilization  Which  knowledge  has  made  possible 
through  the  application  of  steam  and  steel  and  credit  to 
the  affairs  of  men,  many  of  the  common  people  are  seeking 
to  give  free  rein  to  feeling  uncontrolled  by  understanding. 
That  way  lies  disaster.  Without  continuous  application 
of  knowledge  the  edifice  of  civilization  will  fall  down,  but 
without  continuous  application  of  the  three  spiritual  in- 
stincts to  the  ordering  of  society  it  will  blow  up.  The  fact 
that  civilization  is  in  danger  in  parts  of  Europe  is  proof 
that  the  leaders  and  rulers  of  the  past  either  never  knew 
or  forgot  that  merely  to  apply  specialized  technical  knowl- 
edge is  to  give  a  stone  to  humanity  clamoring  for  bread. 

8 


You  are  to  be  leaders  or  you  will  be  nothing-.  If  after 
your  university  training  you  are  not  in  the  way  to  qualify 
for  leadership  you  had  better  plough  the  land  or  grow  food 
for  the  peoples,  for  a  university  man  or  woman  who  is  not 
at  least  a  subordinate  leader  is  a  parasite,  or  at  best  a  seton 
in  the  body  politic.  And  to  you  leaders  of  the  future  I  hand 
all  the  knowledge  that  remains  to  me  from  years  of  striving 
to  find  the  answer  to  the  question,  Whither? 

It  is  simply  this :  Humanity  moves  to  a  haven  which  we 
cannot  see,  but  though  the  sea  is  dark  there  are  three  light- 
houses to  help  each  pilot,  and  the  first  of  these  is  beauty,  the 
second,  service,  the  third,  truth.  Keeping  those  three  ever 
in  view,  civilization  will  sail  safely.  Let  one  be  occulted 
and  civilization  is  in  danger.  Let  two  be  occulted  and  peril 
is  nigh.     Let  three  be  occulted  and  civilization  falls. 

Thus  Babylon  fell,  thus  Egypt,  thus  Rome,  in  many  ways 
the  greatest  and  proudest  civilization  that  has  been.  So  I 
doubt  not  fell  all  the  civilizations  of  the  past.  So  today 
civilization  totters. 

To  you  and  to  those  like  you  the  civilization  of  the  world 
is  committed.  Be  faithful  to  your  trust.  Before  almost 
you  have  realized  that  you  are  no  longer  boys  and  girls  you 
will  find  yourselves  the  men  and  women  of  the  new  gener- 
ation. 

If  anyone  had  spoken  to  me  the  day  I  obtained  my  first 
degree  as  I  have  spoken  to  you  tonight  I  should  have  writ- 
ten him  down  a  consummate  ass.  I  was  sure  then  where 
I  am  uncertain  now,  or  am  now  certain  in  an  opposite  sense 
to  my  earlier  surety.  If  the  effect  of  education  has  been 
in  the  case  of  any  one  to  turn  him  or  her  into  an  atheist  or 
an  agnostic  or  a  materialist  or  any  other  brand  of  non- 
religious  thinker  I  beg  him  not  to  imagine  that  he  is  the  first 
or  will  be  the  last.  Let  him  not  commit  himself  for  ten 
years  to  any  expression  of  opinion  in  that  direction.  Let 
him  wait  for  the  revelations  and  miracles  that  are  to  come, 
for  the  days  of  revelations  and  of  miracles  are  not  yet 
ended. 

No  man  could  have  had  a  much  more  romantic  or  in- 
teresting life  than  I,  and  yet  I  almost  find  it  in  my  heart 
to  envy  you.  Why?  Because  the  next  fifty  or  sixty  years 
are  going  to  be  the  most  glorious  or  the  most  disastrous 
in  the  history  of  the  world.     My  generation  cannot  hope  to 

9 


see  a  successful  end  to  the  world  revolution  which  is  now 
in  progress,  though  yours  may.  You  have  still  a  few  years 
in  which  to  grow  strong  in  the  battle  of  life  before  the 
full  burden  of  responsibility  descends  upon  you.  You  must 
prepare.  Let  me  tell  you  how.  Keep  ever  before  you  the 
sense  of  your  responsibility.  Seek  without  ceasing  an  an- 
swer to  the  question,  whither  away?  And,  though  you  will 
never  know  the  end  to  which  the  great  purpose  moves, 
there  will  be  continually  revealed  to  you  the  general  direc- 
tion in  which  to  press.  Keep  the  three  lights  of  life  stead- 
ily in  your  own  view.  Help  your  fellow-men,  not  to  lose 
them  from  their  sight.  Bend  all  your  knowledge  and  all 
your  power  to  the  day's  work.  Thus  you  will  live 
greatly. 

Today  is  the  day  on  which  you  recall  the  names  and 
glorify  the  memory  of  those  who  died  for  America.  They 
gave  their  all  for  you.  It  was  hard  for  them  to  leave  their 
cheerful  and  happy  world  even  for  a  great  cause,  and  you 
do  well  to  hold  them  in  pious  memory,  but  for  some  it  is 
harder  to  live  for  the  same  great  cause,  the  cause  of  free- 
dom and  right  and  humanity.  I  hope  that  the  call  will 
come  to  you  to  live  and  not  to  die,  but  whichever  is  your 
lot  you  will  find  it  difficult.  Believe  me,  to  live  rightly  re- 
quires much  more  understanding,  much  more  vigilance  than 
to  die  nobly.  I  urge  you  to  dig  deep  into  the  hidden  mean- 
ings and  implications  of  the  spiritual  longings  for  beauty, 
service  and  truth,  and  if  my  wishes  can  benefit  you  now 
or  hereafter  I  wish  you,  novitiates  in  the  brotherhood  of 
university  men  and  women,  health  and  strength  to  serve 
and  happiness  in  serving  the  nation  to  which  you  owe  alle- 
giance and  through  which,  if  you  so  will,  you  can  serve 
mankind. 


10 


THE  NEW  LAW  BUILDING. 

The  George  Washington  University  announces  the  pur- 
chase of  a  high  class  building  for  the  Law  School.  This 
property  is  located  at  1435  K  Street.  It  was  for  many 
years  the  home  of  the  Department  of  Justice,  until  that 
Department  moved  into  its  new  building,  just  across  Ver- 
mont Avenue.  The  property  fronts  on  McPherson  Square 
and  is  thus :  one  block  from  the  University  Club,  and  the 
Department  of  Justice;  two  blocks  from  the  Cosmos  Club, 
Shoreham  Hotel,  and  the  Arlington  Building,  now  occupied 
by  the  War  Risk  Bureau ;  and  four  blocks  from  the  White 
House.  It  is  within  one  block  of  the  14th  Street  car  line 
and  two  blocks  of  the  Connecticut  Avenue  line. 

The  lot  on  which  the  building  stands  has  a  fifty-six-foot 
frontage  on  K  Street  and  has  a  depth  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet.  The  building  covers  most  of  the  lot.  It  is  a 
four-story  structure,  the  front  being  of  brown  stone  and  the 
other  walls  of  brick.  There  is  under  it  a  spacious  and  well 
lighted  basement  available  for  a  men's  lounging  room,  lock- 
ers and  storage  purposes.  The  building  contains  ample 
space  to  house  the  entire  Law  School. 

Extensive  alterations  will  be  made  during  the  summer. 
The  tentative  plans  contemplate  that  there  shall  be  two  large 
class  rooms  on  the  third  floor  and  two  large  class  rooms  on 
the  fourth  floor,  the  second  floor  will  be  occupied  by  the 
library,  professors'  offices  and  a  woman's  room,  while  the 
first  floor  will  be  used  for  administration  offices  and  moot 
court  rooms.  Alterations  have  already  been  commenced 
and  it  is  expected  that  the  building  will  be  ready  for  occu- 
pancy by  September  first. 

The  Law  School  has  for  the  past  ten  years  occupied  the 
fifth  and  sixth  floors  of  the  New  Masonic  Temple.  When 
the  Law  School  came  to  these  quarters  in  1910,  it  had  about 
333  students.  The  comparatively  high  standards  had  the 
tendency  to  cut  down  its  attendance.     As  years  passed  by 

11 


and  young  men  and  women  came  to  appreciate  the  ad- 
vantages of  high  standards  honestly  enforced,  the  school 
began  to  grow  rapidly.  The  result  is  that  the  school  has  en- 
tirely outgrown  its  present  quarters.  During  the  year  just 
closing  it  has  been  necessary  to  hold  a  class  of  150  students 
each  afternoon  in  the  Medical  Building. 

LAW  SCHOOL  NOTES. 
Our  registration  for  the  year  1919-20  is  as  follows : 

First  Year 425 

Second  Year 122 

Third  Year ' 94 

LL.  M.  students 24 

Special    87 

Total 752 

While  statistics  are  not  all  available,  it  seems  probable  that 
not  more  than  one  other  school  in  the  Association  of  Amer- 
ican Law  Schools  has  a  larger  attendance  this  year  than  has 
the  George  Washington  University  Law  School. 

The  first  year  class  during  the  year  just  closing  has  been 
conducted  in  three  sections  and  the  indications  are  that  it 
will  be  necessary  to  conduct  each  of  the  first  and  second 
year  classes  next  year  in  three  sections.  The  morning 
section  which  was  almost  entirely  wiped  out  during  the 
war  is  growing  rapidly.  During  the  past  year  there  were 
fifty-eight  students  registered  in  the  first  year  morning  sec- 
tion. This  multiplicity  of  sections  makes  necessary  the 
addition  of  two  full  time  teachers  to  the  present  faculty. 
One  of  these,  Mr.  Albert  Levitt,  A.  B.  Columbia,  and  LL.  B. 
Harvard,  has  already  been  procured. 


The  Summer  Session  of  the  Law  School  will  begin  on 
June  21st.  For  information,  apply  to  the  Secretary  of 
the  Law  School,  New  Masonic  Temple. 

12 


EXTENSIVE  IMPROVEMENTS  IN  THE  UNIVER- 
SITY MEDICAL  SCHOOL. 

The  Trustees  of  the  University  after  a  year's  careful 
investigation  into'  the  question  of  medical  education  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  have  announced  an  important  de- 
cision establishing  a  new  policy.  Owing  to  the  universally 
admitted  impossibility  of  maintaining  a  Class  A  medical 
school  even  of  moderate  size  at  an  expense  of  less  than 
$25,000  in  excess  of  the  amount  that  can  be  derived  from 
the  tuition  fees  and  owing  to  the  constantly  rising  standards 
and  increasing  requirements  fixed  by  the  Educational  Coun- 
cil of  The  American  Medical  Association,  whose  classifica- 
tion and  grading  of  Medical  Schools  have  virtually  the 
effect  of  law,  the  trustees  have  voted  to  appropriate  an- 
nually, from  the  general  funds  of  the  University  or  from 
the  receipts  of  subscriptions,  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
Medical  School,  the  sum  of  $25,000,  for  a  period  of  five 
years,  prior  to  the  expiration  of  which  time  it  is  confidently 
expected  that  a  permanent  endowment  yielding  an  annual 
income  of  this  or  larger  amount  will  have  been  obtained. 
The  $25,000  thus  appropriated  will  be  in  addition  to  the 
revenue  of  the  Medical  School  derived  from  the  fees  paid 
by  students  and  from  all  other  sources.  It  will  be  used  in 
the  payment  of  salaries  to  additional  full-time  professors, 
in  some  increases  to  those  who  have  already  long  served 
on  the  teaching  staff  at  salaries  that  are  inadequate,  in  the 
establishment  of  a  medical  museum,  the  enlargement  of 
the  library  and  in  additions  to  the  equipment  of  the  labora- 
tories. 

In  compliance  with  recommendations  recently  made  by 
officers  and  agents  of  The  American  Medical  Association, 
that  there  be  a  complete  separation  of  medical  and  dental 
teaching,  the  entire  medical  building  at  1335  H  Street, 
adjacent  to  the  University's  Hospital  and  Infirmary,  now 
occupied  by  the  Dental  School  as  well  as  the  Medical 
School,  will  hereafter  be  devoted  to  medical  instruction 
and  to  instruction  in  chemistry.  The  step  had  to  be  taken 
in  order  to  obtain  adequate  laboratory  space.  The  interior 
of  the  building  will  undergo  considerable  alteration.  To 
effect  these  improvements  the  Board  of  Trustees  has  au- 
thorized the  expenditure  of  $4,000.00  in  addition  to  $25,- 
000.00  appropriated  annually  for  school  maintenance.  The 
work  will  begin  on  June  15th,  so  as  to  be  completed  for 
the  opening  of  the  School  on  September  29th. 

The  changes  and  improvements  which  are  being  made 
will,  it  is  believed,  not  only  make  it  possible  for  the  School 

13 


to  keep  its  position  in  Class  A,  the  highest  class,  but  with 
the  many  incidental  facilities  furnished  by  the  city  will  en- 
able it  to  offer  the  very  best  instruction  in  medicine  and  to 
assume  in  a  short  time  that  commanding  place  which  a 
school  in  the  National  Capital  should  have. 

The  impossibility,  after  a  long  search,  of  finding  a  suit- 
able separate  building  for  the  Dental  School,  coupled  with 
the  fact  that  it  could  not  be  maintained  as  a  separate  school, 
in  a  creditable  manner,  except  at  an  annual  deficit  of  $25,- 
000,  besides  an  additional  initial  expense  of  $19,000  for 
installation  of  equipment,  has  caused  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees to1  vote,  upon  the  recommendation  of  a  Committee 
composed  of  Dr.  Wm.  S.  Washburn,  Mr.  T.  S.  Hopkins, 
and  Mr.  H.  C.  Davis,  to  discontinue  the  Dental  School  at 
the  close  of  the  present  academic  year. 

The  trustees  regret  the  necessity  of  such  action  but  feel 
that  to*  continue  the  Dental  School  would  be  an  unwar- 
ranted burden  upon  the  other  departments  of  the  Univer- 
sity, and  furthermore  that  it  is  not  to  the  interest  of  the 
institution  to  continue  a  school  which  because  of  lack  of 
funds  and  equipment  is  in  Class  B  rather  than  Class  A. 
It  is  their  hope  that  a  University  drive  will  be  started  in 
the  fall  and  that  an  endowment  of  $500,000  for  the  Dental 
School  can  thus  be  obtained.  No  smaller  sum  will  suffice 
to  maintain  a  first-class  modern  dental  school,  and  in  clos- 
ing its  school  until  such  a  fund  can  be  obtained,  The  George 
Washington  University  is  following  the  lead  of  a  number 
of  the  leading  universities  of  the  country  which  like  it  pre- 
fer to  maintain  no>  department  or  school  which  cannot  be 
kept  up  to>  the  highest  standard. 

For  the  present  the  University's  efforts  will  be  concen- 
trated upon  the  Medical  School. 

This  School  is  now  in  its  ninety-fourth  year,  having  been 
opened  in  March  1825.  It  is  the  eleventh  existing  medical 
teaching  institution  in  the  United  States  in  chronological 
order  of  establishment  and  has  given  degrees  to  1,460 
graduates  in  Medicine. 

Like  many  other  medical  schools  in  this  country,  it  was 
first  independent.  Later  it  was  loosely  affiliated  with  the 
Columbian  University  and  finally  became  an  integral  part 
of  that  institution  sometime  before  the  University,  by  vir- 
tue of  the  act  of  Congress,  approved  January  23rd,  1904, 
changed  its  name  to  The  George  Washington  University. 

In  1898,  in  order  to-  increase  the  facilities  for  clinical 
teaching,  a  University  Hospital  and  University  Dispensary 
were  established. 

14 


For  many  years  the  school  had  late  afternoon  and  even- 
ing sessions,  but  in  1908  the  University  directed  that  all 
such  classes  be  discontinued  and  that  day  sessions  only 
should  be  held.  This  was  the  first  step  toward  modern- 
izing the  school. 

In  1902,  the  old  Medical  Building  in  which  the  teaching 
had  been  conducted  since  1867,  was  replaced  by  the  larger 
and  more  commodious  structure  which  the  school  now  oc- 
cupies located  at  1335  H  Street,  about  one  block  and  a  half 
east  of  The  Shoreham  Hotel.  In  1903,  an  addition  ma- 
terially enlarging  the  hospital  was  opened. 

In  1909,  new  ordinances  were  adopted  by  which  the 
school,  the  hospital  and  the  dispensary  were  completely 
amalgamated  according  to  the  most  approved  ideas  for 
medical  teaching. 

The  Department  of  Medicine  of  the  University  thus  be- 
came a  complete  medical  educational  unit  consisting  of  a 
Medical  School,  a  University  Hospital  and  a  University 
Dispensary.  The  Hospital  and  Dispensary  came  under  the 
same  management  as  the  School  and  the  clinical  teachers  in 
the  School  took  charge  of  the  clinics  in  the  Hospital  and 
Dispensary  so  that  the  work  in  School,  Hospital  and  Dis- 
pensary was  completely  correlated. 

The  University  Hospital  is  located  at  1339  H  Street. 
It  has  a  capacity  of  105  beds.  Its  clinical  capacity  is  50 
beds. 

A  Nurses'  Training  School  has  been  maintained  in  con- 
nection with  the  Hospital  since  1903  and  has  graduated 
about  200  trained  nurses.  The  Nurses'  Home  is  at  the  Cor- 
ner of  13th  and  L  Streets.  It  has  been  completely  re- 
decorated the  past  year,  the  expense  of  this  having  been 
met  by  money  raised  by  efforts  of  the  very  devoted  and 
efficient  Board  of  Lady  Managers  who  for  many  years 
have  been  of  greatest  assistance  to  the  Hospital  and  Nurses 
Training  School. 

Last  Fall  The  National  School  of  Pharmacy  at  808  Eye 
Street  was  merged  into  the  Medical  Department  as  an  in- 
tegral part  of  it. 

Standing  of  Graduates  of  Medical  School 
in  State  Examinations. 

A  graduate  in  medicine  cannot  practice  in  any  state  in 
the  United  States  until  he  has  passed  an  examination  be- 
fore a  State  Medical  Examining  Board.  The  percentage 
of  successes  and  failures  of  candidates  from  any  medical 

15 


school  in  State  Board  Examinations  is  therefore  indicative 
of  the  educational  efficiency  of  the  school.  The  standing 
of  graduates  of  the  George  Washington  University  Medi- 
cal School  before  State  Boards  compares  very  favorably 
with  that  of  other  medical  schools.  It  is  one  of  the  few 
schools  whose  graduates  had  no  failures  as  a  result  of  the 
examinations  before  the  state  medical  boards  during  the 
year  1918,  and  they  were  equally  successful  in  1919. 

A  recent  number  of  The  Journal  of  The  American  Medi- 
cal Association  gives  official  figures  showing  the  per  cent 
of  failures  of  graduates  of  the  leading  medical  schools  of 
the  country  for  1919.  Thirty-three  graduates  of  George 
Washington  University  took  the  examinations  in  different 
states.     Not  one  failed. 

The  following  gives  results  for  several  leading  medical 
schools  in  the  United  States  as  published  in  the  article  re- 
ferred to  : 

Percent  of 
Medical  School.  .  Failures. 

George   Washington   University 0.0 

Georgetown  University 13.0 

Howard  University 24.1 

Northwestern 3.6 

Illinois    3.7 

Johns  Hopkins 3.5 

Maryland 8.2 

Harvard    3.0 

Tufts 13.7 

Michigan    4.2 

Detroit    5.7 

Albany   14.8 

Columbia   8.1 

Cornell    7.3 

Syracuse    0.0 

Long  Island 11.8 

Bellevue   12.6 

Jefferson 5.2 

Pennsylvania   8.5 

Vermont   19.4 

Medical  College  of  Virginia 35.6 

University  of  Virginia 0.0 

McGill    23.1 


Average  of  all  Medical  Colleges.  ...    14.3 

16 


Classification. 

In  order  to  inform  prospective  medical  students  in  what 
schools  they  can  obtain  adequate  instruction,  The  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association  since  1909  has  annually  inspected 
and  classified  all  Medical  Schools  in  the  United  States 
grading  them  as  Class  A,  B  or  C,  according  to  their  facili- 
ties and  work.  The  "A"  schools  are  of  the  highest  grade, 
and  the  George  Washington  Medical  School  has  always 
held  this  rank.  It  meets  all  the  premedical  and  medical 
requirements  of  every  State  Medical  Examining  Board  in 
the  Union  and  its  graduates  are  eligible  for  all  Govern- 
ment examinations,  including  those  for  appointment  to  the 
Medical  Department  of  the  Army,  the  Navy,  and  the  Pub- 
lic Health  Service. 

Foreign  Recognition. 

In  addition  to  full  recognition  in  the  United  States  it  is 
accredited  by  the  Royal  (combined)  Medical  Examining 
Boards  of  London,  England.  There  are  but  nineteen  of 
the  eighty-six  medical  schools  in  the  United  States  which 
have  the  distinction  of  this  recognition,  and  our  school  is 
the  only  one  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the  only  one 
south  of  Johns  Hopkins  University  so  accredited.  A 
graduate  of  our  school,  upon  presenting  his  diploma,  can 
be  admitted  to  the  fifth  year  in  any  medical  school  in  Eng- 
land, and  upon  the  completion  of  it  and  upon  taking  the 
final  examinations,  can  be  registered  to  practice  anywhere 
in  the  British  possessions. 


17 


THE  DYE  STUFFS  AND  EXPLOSIVES 

LABORATORY 

The  George  Washington  University  has  recently  fitted 
up  the  upper  floors  of  its  Pharmacy  Building  at  808  Eye 
St.,  as  a  chemical  laboratory  for  special  research  in  dye- 
stuffs  and  explosives.  A  number  of  very  important  prob- 
lems are  now  being  solved.  Mr.  George  W.  Phillips, 
formerly  a  Captain  in  the  Chemical  Warfare  Service  of  the 
Army,  Instructor  in  Chemistry,  has  been  made  Director  of 
the  Laboratory,  under  the  general  supervision  of  Professor 
McNeil,  head  of  the  Chemistry  Department.  Professor- 
emeritus  Charles  E.  Munroe,  one  of  the  world-recog- 
nized experts  in  explosives,  and  inventor  of  smokeless 
powder,  will  act  as  Consulting  Chemist. 

The  lower  floor  of  the  building  will  continue  to  be 
used  by  the  Department  of  Pharmacy,  under  Dean 
Kalusowski. 

THE  REVIVAL  OF  ATHLETICS  AT  GEORGE 

WASHINGTON. 

By  H.  C.  Byrd 

Ask  ten  persons  what  is  meant  by  education  and  the 
chances  will  be  good  for  ten  different  answers.  One  ex- 
treme is  likely  to  come  from  those  that  believe  "culture"  the 
sole  reason  for  acquiring  knowledge ;  the  other,  from  those 
that  see  nothing  in  education  but  the  acquirement  of  a  com- 
modity which  can  be  traded  for  dollars  and  cents. 

Whatever  may  be  the  definitions  of  education  offered  by 
the  old  school  or  by  the  modern  radical,  it  remains  that  the 
best  education  is  that  which  equips  men  and  women  to 
render  the  greatest  possible  service  to  their  fellows.  It, 
therefore,  follows  that  the  educational  organization  which 
does  not  offer  opportunities  for  such  development  fails  to 
measure  up  to  the  needed  standard. 

An  educational  institution  which  sends  out  graduates 
without  knowledge  of  the  usual  activities  which  surround 
healthful  community  life  is  not  functioning  with  the  best 
interests  of  the  nation  in  view.  Community  problems, 
urban  or  rural,  are  largely  similar.  How  best  to  educate 
men  and  women  to  take  positions  of  leadership  in  meeting 
such  problems  is  a  question  which  the  educational  world  is 
finding  it  difficult  to  answer. 

18 


To  meet  this  difficulty,  to  offer  in  the  National  Capital 
something  unique  in  university  life,  George  Washington 
aims  to  foster  the  development  of  community  activities  as 
a  part  of  its  general  plan  of  education;  after  all,  the  uni- 
versity is  a  community,  face  to  face  with  most  of  the  prob- 
lems and  difficulties  of  the  average  community.  In  doing 
this,  the  University  is  not  trying  to  work  out  anything  in 
the  way  of  a  radical  sociological  experiment,  but  has  evolve  I 
a  definite  system  of  organization  under  which  it  plans  to 
operate  all  activities  that  relate  to  its  student  life  and  to 
develop  them  as  a  part  of  its  effort  to  equip  men  and  women 
for  their  professions. 

About  two  months  ago,  the  Board  of  Trustees  ratified  and 
adopted  a  plan  to  bring  about  the  desired  development. 
This  plan  provides  for  the  appointment  by  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  upon  recommendation  of  the  President,  of  a  Di- 
rector of  Student  Activities,  the  director  to  be  chairman  of 
a  Board  of  Managers  charged  directly  with  responsibility 
for  student  activities. 

Component  parts  of  a  university  are  the  faculty,  alumni, 
and  students,  and  the  personnel  of  the  Board  of  Managers 
is  such  as  should  unify  these  interests.  The  Board  is  made 
up  of  three  members  of  the  faculty,  one  each  from  the  De- 
partments of  Medicine,  Arts  and  Science,  and  Law;  two 
members  of  the  Alumni  Association ;  and  two  students.  The 
faculty  members  are  to  be  appointed  by  the  President, 
alumni  by  the  President  of  the  Alumni  Association,  and 
students  by  the  Students'  Council. 

Under  the  new  arrangement,  the  publications  will  be 
organs  of  the  university  community,  and  every  factor  in 
the  development  of  other  lines  of  activities  will  be  repre- 
sentative of  the  three  great  influences  which  should  shape 
the  life  of  the  University.  In  other  words,  the  arrangement 
provides  for  complete  co-operation  of  faculty,  alumni,  and 
students  in  all  things  which  affect  their  related  interests. 

While  naturally  there  will  be  many  activities,  perhaps  the 
development  of  a  complete  program  of  athletics  will  be  the 
largest.  George  Washington  is  going  back  into  competitive 
sports  in  two  ways ;  in  one,  to  take  its  place  in  intercollegiate 
competition  as  the  logical  representative  of  the  National 
Capital ;  the  other,  to  offer  eventually  a  complete  system  of 
intra-mural  games,  so  that  every  student  will  be  able  to 
derive  the  personal  benefits  which  accrue  from  participa- 
tion in  physical  contests. 

19 


Without  necessity  for  argument,  it  generally  is  recog- 
nized that  the  greatest  factor  in  developing  and  maintain- 
ing a  strong  morale  among  students,  in  unifying  the  ethical 
interests  of  a  university,  in  producing  a  strong  feeling  of 
loyalty  and  pride  in  faculty  and  alumni  as  well  as  in  students, 
is  athletics.  Therefore,  it  is  felt  that  a  broad  athletic  pro- 
gram is  essential;  broad  in  the  sense  that  it  encompasses 
direct  relationships  with  other  great  universities  and  in  the 
sense  that  it  is  sufficiently  far-reachng  to  touch  every  stu- 
dent, alumnus  and  faculty  member. 

It  is  not  expected  that  difficulties  are  not  going  to  be 
encountered  in  such  a  program  as  has  been  mapped  out,  but 
such  difficulties  are  to  be  regarded  only  as  obstacles  to  be 
surmounted.  Somewhat  checkered  has  been  the  career  of 
the  University  in  athletics,  owing  at  times  to  a  lack  of  fore- 
sight which  has  caused  attempts  to  build  on  insecure  founda- 
tions. Under  the  new  plan  the  building  may  be  somewhat 
slow  but  once  the  structure  is  raised  it  will  remain. 

Already  students  are  earnestly  advocating  a  movement 
to  raise  funds  to  build  a  modern  athletic  field,  to  embody 
a  gridiron,  a  base  ball  diamond  for  intercollegiate  com- 
petition and  one  for  intra-mural  games,  a  track,  and 
tennis  courts.  The  bright  prospects  for  this  indicates  that 
within  the  next  year  or  so  George  Washington  will  have  its 
own  athletic  plant,  with  modern  equipment,  for  the  first  time 
since  the  days  of  Van  Ness  Park,  thirteen  years  ago. 

The  University  completed  its  plans  so  late  that  much 
doubt  was  expressed  about  the  advisability  of  attempting  to 
arrange  a  foot  ball  schedule  for  next  fall,  but  it  was  felt 
that  something  should  be  done  to  make  a  start.  A  schedule 
is  nearing  completion,  and  six  or  seven  games  will  be  played 
at  home  and  one  or  two  away.  The  program  for  next  year 
involves  full  schedules  in  base  ball,  basket  ball,  and  track 
and  two  or  three  branches  of  girls'  sports. 

With  the  desire  to  take  its  place  in  the  van  of  all  collegiate 
activities,  intending  to  offer  its  students  every  possible  op- 
portunity for  development  in  all  things  which  pertain  to  a 
well-rounded  education,  the  University  has  taken  a  step 
which  depends  for  its  ultimate  success  upon  co-operation 
of  faculty,  students,  and  alumni.  The  groundwork  has 
been  laid  by  the  Board  of  Trustees,  but  others  must  put 
up  the  building.  From  the  men  and  women  within  the  Uni- 
versity and  related  to  it  must  come  the  initiative  and  unifi- 
cation of  effort,  the  driving  force  which  will  be  needed  to 
produce  real  results. 

20 


College  Influences  Before  theWar  and  After  theWar 

AN  ADDRESS 

Delivered  Before 

The  Zeta  Chapter  of  Phi  Beta  Kappa 

at  the 

Commencement  Exercises 

of 

Hobart  College 

June  14,  1920 

BY 

William  Miller  Collier, 
President  of  The  George  Washington  University 

The  titanic  struggle  from  which  the  world  is  just  emerg- 
ing has  put  every  human  institution  to  the  severest  test. 
The  vastly  changed  conditions  resulting  from  this  great 
upheaval  present  new  problems  so  important  and  so  per- 
plexing that  we  are  again  compelled  to  examine  into  the 
means  and  methods  which  we  use  to  accomplish  our  pur- 
poses and  to  investigate  the  efficiency  of  all  our  agencies. 
Evervone  will  concede  that  of  all  the  instrumentalities 
employed  to  advance  the  interests  of  mankind  none  are 
'  of  more  vital  or  of  fundamental  importance  than  those 
which  deal  with  education.  To  educate  is  to  draw  out. 
extend  and  expand ;  it  is  to  generate,  stimulate  and  co-ordi- 
nate the  energies  of  the  people.  To  educate  is  to  consum- 
mate. Knowledge  is  power.  The  proverb  is  trite,  but  its 
truth  is  established  by  national  as  well  as  individual  experi- 
ence. 

I  propose  this  morning  to  speak  to  you  about  certain 
features  of  the  educational  systems  of  some  of  the  nations 
lately  engaged  in  the  Great  War  and  about  the  relations  of 
their  colleges  and  universities  to  national  life  in  war  as 
well  as  in  peace.  While  I  shall  say  something  about  pri- 
mary and  secondary  education, — common  schools  and  high 
schools — the  character  of  my  audience  requires  that  I  give 
special  consideration  to  the  institutions  of  higher  learning, 

21 


some  of  them  called  universities  and  some  of  them  called 
colleges.  The  latter  term,  however,  is  often  used  gener- 
ically  for  them  all  and  when  I  employ  it  in  this  address, 
it  will,  unless  otherwise  explicitly  stated,  include  universi- 
ties which  seek  to  give  instruction  in  almost  every  branch 
of  learning  as  well  as  the  smaller  institutions  called  col- 
leges which  limit  the  scope  of  their  work  and  which  as  a 
rule  do  that  work  with  fidelity,  with  credit  to  themselves, 
and  with  inestimable  benefit  to  the  world. 

I  shall  not  limit  myself  to  a  consideration  of  the  col- 
leges and  universities  of  America,  but  shall  attempt  briefly 
to  draw  some  lessons  from  the  teachings  of  the  World 
War  as  to  the  merits  and  defects  of  the  educational  systems 
of  two  other  nations,  England  and  Germany,  one  our  great 
associate  power,  the  other  our  enemy  in  the  late  war.  I 
make  no  apology  for  this,  because  we  can  learn  from  foe 
as  well  as  friend  and  each  may  exhibit  things  for  us  to 
avoid  as  well  as  things  to  adopt.  I  deem  it  wise  to  con- 
sider the  universities  of  England  and  Germany  and  their 
activity  and  influence  in  the  war  because  our  small  Ameri- 
can college  is  largely  patterned  after  the  colleges  that  com- 
pose the  English  universities,  while  our  American  universi- 
ties, although  retaining  many  of  the  features  of  English 
university  life,  have  been  very  much  influenced  by  the  Ger- 
man universities,  from  which,  prior  to  the  war,  they  drafted 
many  of  their  professors,  Moreover,  England  and  Ger- 
many were  in  the  war  much  longer  than  we,  and  the  start- 
ing of  it  by  Germany  was  largely  due  to  her  false  educa- 
tional system.  To  discuss  the  influence  of  colleges  upon 
the  activities  of  peoples  in  war  and  peace  without  giving 
consideration  to>  the  methods  and  aims  of  German  and 
English  universities  would  be  to  ignore  very  powerful  fac- 
tors in  the  development  of  civilization  and  to  treat  with 
contempt  institutions  which  are,  perhaps  with  the  sole  ex- 
ception of  the  Catholic  Church,  the  oldest  in  the  world  in 
point  of  continuous  existence,  the  most  venerable,  the  most 
securely  founded.  Some  of  Germany's  universities  date 
back  to  the  middle  ages;  and  Oxford  and  Cambridge  have 
seen  dynasties  come  and  go,  constitutions  change,  nations 
rise  and  fall,  empires  evolved,  social  systems  replaced,  and 
new  worlds  discovered.  Sic  transit  gloria  mundi;  but  col- 
leges and  universities  are  the  most  enduring  of  all  earthly 
institutions.  I  am  prompted,  moreover,  to  give  extended 
consideration  to  the  English  and  German  systems  of 
education  not  merely  because  their  great  universities  are 

22 


historically  interesting,  but  because  each  of  these  two  sys- 
tems had  its  own  characteristic  and  distinctive  method  and 
aim;  and  in  American  institutions  of  higher  learning  these 
two  methods  or  aims  were  in  conflict  or  were  struggling 
to  find  a  point  of  adjustment  when  the  war  broke  out. 
Whatever  the  experience  of  England  and  Germany  teaches 
as  to  the  influence  of  their  universities  upon  national  char- 
acter is  of  great  value  to  the  United  States.  It  is  not,  of 
course,  an  unerring  beacon  to  guide  us  but  it  is  much  more 
than  a  side-light. 

I  regret  that  lack  of  time  prevents  me  from  giving  full 
consideration  to  the  universities  of  the  other  Allies.  I 
wish  I  might  speak  of  those  of  Belgium  whose  burned  and 
pillaged  university  at  Louvain  made  such  a  mute  but  ef- 
fective appeal  to  the  scholars  of  the  world, — mute,  I  should 
not  have  said,  for  the  very  stones  of  her  ruined  library 
cried  out  for  vengeance.  I  am  especially  sorry  that  I  can- 
not make  extended  reference  to  the  educational  system  of 
France  whose  excellent  universities,  but  especially  The  Sor- 
bonne  at  Paris,  have  ever  attracted  students,  yet  never  so 
much  SO'  as  now  when  the  world  has  awakened  to  a  realiza- 
tion of  their  merits  and  of  the  exaggerated  claims  and  un- 
duly high  rating  of  the  German  universities  before  the  war. 
I  regret  also  that  I  cannot  speak  at  length  about  Italy  in 
this  connection.  There,  the  first  universities  in  Europe  were 
started  hundreds  of  years  ago,  at  Salerno  and  Bologna; 
and  to  that  country  we  look  not  only  for  inspiration  in  arts 
and  letters  but  also  in  science,  particularly  in  that  relating 
to  electricity.  Lovers  of  learning  not  only  revere  Italy  as 
the  Mother  of  the  Old  Masters,  such  as  Titian,  Rafael,  and 
Michael  Angelo,  but  as  the  still  fecund  matron  who,  in 
modern  times,  has  brought  forth  Galvani,  Volta,  and  Mar- 
coni. 

So  important  is  the  role  pla3/ed  by  the  college  in  national 
life  that  there  is  no  more  profound  and  vital  question  for 
the  statesman  and  the  scholar  than  this :  "What  is  the 
effect  of  an  educational  system  upon  the  national  character 
and  the  national  institutions?" 

The  World  War  furnished  us  many  interesting  revela- 
tions of  the  influence  of  the  different  systems  of  education 
upon  the  peoples  engaged  in  it  and  upon  their  political  and 
social  organization.  The  excellence  of  German  education, 
no  less  than  its  universality,  was  formerly  very  generally 

23 


admitted  even  by  those  who  later  were  the  enemies  of  that 
Empire.  More  than  a  half  century  ago,  Lord  Palmerston 
sneered  at  "the  land  of  damned  professors;"  but  English- 
men, like  former  Ambassador  James  Bryce,  better  qualified 
than  he  to  pass  judgment  in  this  respect,  praised  it  very 
highly  in  ante-bellum  days.  At  that  time,  the  German  uni- 
versity was  a  fetich  for  the  world's  scholars ;  but  even  then 
there  were  some  critics,  severe  although  not  unkind,  most 
notable,  perhaps,  being  Mr.  Price  Collier  in  his  book  "Ger- 
many of  the  Germans."  Even  the  German  Chancellor,  von 
Bethman-Hollweg,  a  few  years  before  the  war,  publicly  ex- 
pressed his  misgivings  about  the  soundness  of  the  German 
system  of  education. 

Let  us  glance  at  that  system  as  it  existed  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  awful  struggle  in  1914.  Compulsory  common  school 
education  had  been  inaugurated  in  Prussia  as  early  as  1717, 
two  hundred  years  previously,  and  the  system  had  been  con- 
tinuously maintained  and  extended  until  it  affected  all  chil- 
dren between  five  and  fourteen  years  of  age.  There  were 
also  what  were  called  compulsory  continuation  schools  for 
those  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age  whose 
circumstances  compelled  them  to  work,  yet,  who,  under 
this  system,  received  supplementary  instruction  for  a  cer- 
tain number  of  hours  each  week.  The  result  was  that  no- 
where else  was  illiteracy  so  small,  the  percentage  being  so 
infinitesimal  as  to  be  negligible.  Secondary  education  had 
been  no  less  well  provided  for;  and  technical,  vocational, 
commercial  and  professional  schools  of  all  grades  abounded 
and  the  attendance  was  very  large.  But  it  was  the  universi- 
ties with  their  great  student  bodies,  their  large  faculties 
with  world-wide  reputation  for  learning,  their  varied 
courses,  their  thoroughness  of  research,  their  opportunities 
for  specialization,  their  attention  to  applied  as  well  as  theo- 
retical science,  which  shaped  and  directed  modern  Germany 
and  made  it  what  it  was  on  that  day  when  it  hurled  its  iron 
might  upon  defenseless  Belgium.  In  no  country  were  the 
people  better  educated.  Nowhere  were  there  more  experts 
in  all  the  occupations  of  life.  Practically  every  German  was 
a  specialist,  an  intensive  specialist.  The  degree  to  which 
specialization  had  been  carried  in  its  universities  is  well 
illustrated  by  the  story  of  the  professor  of  Latin,  who,  at 
the  close  of  a  long  life  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  noun, 
expressed  the  keenest  regret  that  he  had  not  confined  him- 
self to  the  ablative  absolute. 

24 


The  German  educational  system  also  concerned  itself  very 
largely  with  commerce  and  business,  especially  administra- 
tion, co-operation  and  co-ordination.  The  effect  was  ap- 
parent in  the  way  in  which  that  country  was  able  for  so 
long  a  time  during  the  war  to  husband  its  limited  resources 
and  defy  the  whole  world. 

Another  distinctive  feature  of  its  education,  from  the 
primary  school  to  the  university,  was  the  extent  and  the 
spirit  of  its  teaching  of  its  own  history,  its  "Kultur"  and 
the  means  of  attaining  its  racial  and  national  aspirations. 
Patriotism  was  its  religion.  The  glory  of  the  country,  the 
greatness  of  its  ruler  and  the  superiority  of  its  people  were 
preached  day  in  and  day  out.  The  achievement  of  what 
was  regarded  as  its  future  destiny  was  the  purpose  of  all 
its  instruction.  The  ideals  and  ideas  even  of  the  masses 
were  traceable  to  the  lectures  and  writings  of  the  professors 
of  history  in  the  universities.  Probably  no<  teacher  ever 
influenced  a  nation's  political  thinking  as  Treitschke  did. 
He  was  the  incarnation  of  the  Prussian  spirit.  Oddly 
enough  he  was  Slavonic  by  race  rather  than  Teutonic,  and 
Saxon,  not  Prussian,  by  birth;  but  he  was  thoroughly  Prus- 
sianized. He  had  become  intoxicated  from  the  cup  of  Bis- 
marck's power  and  he  had  passed  the  poison  on  to  all  his 
countrymen. 

Very  different  from  the  system  of  the  German  universi- 
ties was  that  of  the  English.  The  latter,  in  general,  offered 
a  prescribed  uniform  course  for  all  students.  It  proceeded 
upon  two  assumptions  which  are  in  the  main  correct,  name- 
ly: that  every  normal  man  has  by  nature  many  faculties, 
talents  and  tastes,  each  more  or  less  active,  and  that  each 
of  them  should  receive  some  development  in  order  that  his 
association  with  other  men  may  be  agreeable  and  helpful; 
secondly,  that  all  branches  of  knowledge  are  interrelated 
and  that  some  knowledge  of  each  of  the  more  important 
ones  and  of  the  bearing  of  each  upon  the  others,  is  essential 
in  order  to  obtain  a  perfect  understanding  of  any  one  branch. 
This  system  is  frequently  spoken  of  as  individualistic,  since 
it  is  the  attempt  to  perfect  or  develop  the  individual.  The 
statement  of  the  purpose  is  correct,  but  in  reality  this  sys- 
tem gives  no  heed  to  what  is  peculiar  or  personal  in  the 
individual  in  the  matter  of  tastes  and  talent.  It  aims  only 
at  an  average  and  applies  only  one  standard.  All  are  run 
through  the  same  mold  and  become  more  or  less  of  one 
type.     A  general  course  of  study  may  to  a  certain  extent 

25 


help  to  stimulate  a  faculty  not  normally  active;  but  even 
here,  since  the  course  is  uniform  and  makes  no  allowance 
for  the  varying  degrees  of  deficiency  of  development,  it 
fails  to  produce  the  model  of  its  type.  If  the  proper  end 
of  education  be  to  develop  the  perfect  all-around  man  it 
would  seem  that  we  all  ought  to  specialize,  not,  however, 
in  that  in  which  we  excel  but  in  that  in  which  we  are  de- 
ficient. Nevertheless  the  man  who  has  taken  the  general 
rather  than  the  specialized  course  of  study  does  get  some 
training  in  many  lines  and  undoubtedly  receives  a  prep- 
aration which  enables  him  to  profit  greatly  by  his  subse- 
quent special  training.  Considering  the  value  of  his  edu- 
cation merely  from  the  economic  standpoint,  he  is  more 
self -sufficient,  more  self-reliant,  and  in  a  sense  more  inde- 
pendent. Such  an  education  is  ideal  and  in  fact  indispensa- 
ble in  an  individualistic  world  or  state  or  community.  Even 
in  a  highly  organized  society  it  is  helpful  to  the  extent  that 
men  must  help  themselves.  This  system  of  education  is 
not  only  adapted  to  the  requirements  of  people  among 
whom  the  individualistic  principle  prevails  but  it  also  tends 
to>  foster  it  and  to  shape  their  institutions  and  organiza- 
tions according  to  it.  It  is  the  natural  system  of  education 
where  the  doctrine  of  personal  liberty  exists,  and  speaking 
generally  it  is  repugnant  to  the  idea  of  strong  centralized 
government.  In  the  public  service,  it  is,  perhaps,  the  best 
preparation  for  the  work  of  legislation,  which  essentially 
is  a  compromise  of  many  opinions.  Possibly  it  is  also  the 
best  preparation  for  the  work  of  the  judicial  tribunal  and 
of  the  diplomatic  service,  where  a  knowledge  of  men  and 
their  temperaments  is  requisite.  In  itself,  it  is  not  a  suffi- 
cient preparation  for  administrative  work.  In  the  politi- 
cal organization  of  a  state  whose  people  have  been  thus 
educated,  the  unifying  element  is  the  sympathy  that  ex- 
ists, due  to  the  similarity  of  ideas  and  ideals. 

Specialization,  which  is  the  characteristic  of  German  edu- 
cation, does  not  seek  to  perfect  the  man  as  a  whole,  but 
as  a  part  of  the  community.  It  does  not  fit  him  for  inde- 
pendent individual  activity,  but  it  does  make  him  more  effi- 
cient when  co-operating  with  others.  The  more  that  he  de- 
votes himself  to  one  thing,  the  less  well  he  can  do  other 
things  and  the  greater  becomes  his  dependence  upon  others. 
He  will  have  more  need  of  them,  yet  less  in  common  with 
them.  But  just  in  the  proportion  that  he  can  do  something 
better  than  others,  they  in  turn  become  dependent  upon  him. 

26 


Dependent  is  thus  able  to  demand  the  co-operation  of  de- 
pendent, and  paradoxical  as  it"  may  seem  their  mutual  in- 
terdependence gives  them  collectively  more  liberty  of  action 
and  freedom  of  development  than  would  political  independ- 
ence of  each  other,  because  our  most  imperious  masters  are 
not  our  political  rulers  but  our  physical  wants.  The  na- 
tion whose  people  have  been  educated  under  a  system  of 
specialization  naturally  becomes  more  compactly  united. 
In  the  political  organization  of  this  people  the  unifying 
element  is  their  mutual  needs  fortified,  it  may  be,  by  grati- 
tude and  loyalty  to  those  who  have  created  the  organization 
and  by  pride  in  it  and  love  for  it.  A  nation  whose  educa- 
tion has  been  specialized  is  also'  almost  certainly  if  not 
necessarily,  very  much  stronger  industrially.  While  there 
may  be  a  certain  degree  of  weakening  of  individual  initia- 
tive, this  trait  will  survive  in  very  many  of  the  inhabitants, 
and  any  lessening  of  it  will  be  more  than  counterbalanced 
by  the  extra  skill  of  all  the  people  which  results  from 
training.  Such  a  nation  is  an  aggregation  of  those  who 
have  developed  to  the  utmost  their  strongest  faculties. 

In  a  nation  of  many  millions  of  inhabitants,  such  is  the 
variety  of  talents  and  tastes  among  men  that  special  training 
of  each  in  what  he  can  do  best  means  that  every  faculty 
and  every  talent  found  in  man  is  developed  to  the  highest 
degree  in  great  numbers  of  men.  And  the  very  weakness 
of  each  one  in  the  thing  in  which  he  has  not  specialized 
strengthens  the  spirit  of  unity  amongst  them,  for  since  each 
cannot  do  everything  all  are  forced  to  act  together.  Co- 
operation rather  than  individualism  inevitably  becomes  the 
principle  of  their  activities.  Centralization  of  power  of 
control  and  direction  is  no  less  certain,  for  without  it  co- 
operation is  not  successful.  Leaders  are  needed,  and  the 
training  of  leaders  becomes  a  specialty.  The  effect  of  this 
specialization  upon  industry  and  upon  government  are  unity 
of  purpose  and  plan,  directness  of  action,  saving  of  energy, 
and  a  resultant  efficiency  which  is  impossible  where  each 
individual  is  an  average  good  all-round  man,  less  depend- 
ent upon  others,  less  willing  and  less  obliged  to  co-operate, 
and  less  submissive  to  control  and  direction. 

Specialization  unquestionably  has  a  certain  tendency  to 
bring  into  being  and  to-  build  up  the  co-operative  state,  that 
which  is  popularly^  called  the  socialistic  state, — one  in  which 
the  power  of  the  state  is  exerted  in  industrial  and  social 
matters,  in  behalf  of  the  people  to  do  for  them  that  which 

27 


Americans  and  English  generally  consider  should  be  done 
by  those  individuals  who  are  directly  interested.  That  has 
been  the  tendency  of  German  education.  No  one  will  ques- 
tion that  under  the  old  regime  Germany  was  an  autocracy 
despite  many  specious  limitations  of  the  Imperial  Constitu- 
tion; yet  when  the  Kaiser's  power  was  at  its  height,  Ger- 
many was  a  co-operative  state,  more  nearly  socialistic  than 
any  other  great  independent  nation.  Evidences  of  this  were 
its  social  and  industrial  legislation  dating  back  about  thirty 
years,  securing  pensions  for  the  aged,  the  sick  and  the 
unemployed,  and  its  extensive  application  of  the  principle 
of  municipal  ownership. 

What  will  be  the  ultimate  effect  upon  the  organization 
of  the  state  if  specialization  in  education  goes  on?  Does 
specialization  necessarily  mean  the  substitution  of  the  so- 
cialistic state  for  the  individualistic  state  ?  Is  it  possible  to 
secure  the  benefits  of  specialization  without  incurring  po- 
litical evils?  Can  there  be  a  co-operative  industrial  system 
in  a  country  without  its  shaping  the  political  organization 
along  similar  lines  ?  It  is  impossible  to  overlook  the  steady 
growth  of  co-operative  government,  that  is,  of  govern- 
mental participation  in  industry,  in  countries  that  long 
boasted  of  their  adherence  to  the  principle  of  individualism. 
The  legislation  of  Great  Britain  for  two  decades  has  been 
a  series  of  surrenders  by  individualism. 

It  is  hard  to  conceive  of  the  abandonment  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  division  of  labor,  for  it  seems  to  have  a  sound 
economic  basis;  yet  division  of  labor  means  specialization; 
specialization  necessitates  co-operation,  and  co-operation  re- 
quires centralization  of  control.  All  three  of  these  things 
must  concur,  otherwise  the  purpose  of  the  division  of  la- 
bor, namely  increased  productiveness,  is  not  accomplished. 
The  economic  limitation  to  the  process  of  sub-division  is, 
of  course,  the  point  where  the  labor  of  co-ordination  and 
supervision,  which  division  and  sub-division  necessitate 
costs  more  than  it  saves.  But  where  is  this  point?  As  ad- 
ministrative skill  seems  to  increase  with  every  new  division, 
the  point  to  which  I  have  referred,  constantly  recedes  as  we 
approach  it.  Economically,  therefore,  it  is  impossible  to 
set  a  definite  limit. 

But  there  are  other  things  in  life  than  the  material.  And 
even  if  we  grant  that  there  is  no'  profitable  limit  to  sub- 
division and  specialization  we  must  nevertheless  ask  our- 
selves this  question:  "What  are  their  social  effects?"     Do 

28 


they  dwarf  life  and  destroy  personality?  Do  they  make 
man  a  machine?  If  so,  we  must  fix  limits  even  although 
they  appear  to  be  arbitrary;  for  it  prohteth  a  man  noth- 
ing if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  yet  lose  his  own  soul. 
On  the  other  hand  it  would  seem  that  any  system,  which 
enables  man  with  less  effort  and  in  less  time  to  provide 
for  his  physical  wants,  must  give  him  more  means  and 
more  leisure  for  the  cultivation  of  the  mental  and  spiritual. 
The  real  problem  is  to  keep  him  from  creating  new  wants 
as  fast  as  he  devises  methods  for  satisfying  those  already 
existing.  The  remedy  is,  amidst  the  material  to  proclaim 
the  idea  of  the  spiritual  as  something  higher  and  better  to 
which  the  material  should  minister.  This  is  the  most  im- 
portant work  of  the  college  as  well  as  of  the  church  today. 
All  in  all,  I  firmly  believe  that  the  mass  of  mankind  is 
nobler  in  thought,  nearer  the  Divine,  less  sordid  and  less 
brutish,  than  in  the  days  of  primitive  labor,  and  that  every 
improvement  in  industry  makes  possible  an  advance  in 
civilization. 

Technical  education  may  be  regarded  as  one  phase  of 
specialization.  The  excellence  of  the  work  along  these 
lines  in  Germany  before  the  war  was  universally  admit- 
ted. Technical  schools  of  all  grades,  from  manual  training 
schools  for  the  young  to  Institutes  of  Technology  of  uni- 
versity rank  and  equipment,  abounded.  The  effect  of  tech- 
nical education  upon  the  character  is  in  many  respects  un- 
questionably helpful.  There  is  a  defmiteness  of  purpose 
when  one  studies  subjects  that  fit  him  for  the  practical  tasks 
of  life;  there  is  a  reality  and  vitality  in  them  that  call  forth 
enthusiastic  and  genuine  effort.  There  is  a  sincerity  and 
earnestness  in  the  study  of  these  things  which  is  often  lack- 
ing when  abstract  subjects  are  perfunctorily  studied  and 
learned  superficially  with  the  feeling  that  they  will  never 
be  serviceable  and  that  they  will  soon  be  forgotten.  The 
latter  evils  are  a  frequent,  though  not  inevitable,  incident 
of  much  of  the  study  of  the  classics  in  our  American  col- 
leges. There  is  a  measure  of  danger  that  excessive  devo- 
tion to  technical  subjects  will  make  one  materialistic  in 
thought.  Constantly  dealing  with  things  and  the  cost  of 
their  production  and  the  profit  to  be  derived  from  their 
sale,  there  is  a  certain  tendency  to  make  money  the  goal. 
This  evil  is  no  more  a  certain  result  of  technical  study  than 
insincerity  is  a  necessary  incident  of  classical  study.  Yet 
in  both  cases  the  evils  that  I  have  mentioned  are  frequent 

29 


incidents.  I  do  not  oppose  technical  education ;  on  the  con- 
trary I  favor  it,  for  I  believe  that  one  who  does  his  work 
badly  may  be  quite  as  materialistic  as  one  who  does  it  skill- 
fully. The  important  thing  is  to  inspire  the  worker  with 
the  feeling  that  there  is  something  in  life  higher  than  the 
amassing  of  wealth.  The  whole  world  has  arraigned  Ger- 
many for  having  been  thoroughly  materialistic;  and  she 
has  pleaded  guilty.  Her  own  preachers  strongly  inveighed 
against  this  evil  in  her  life;  but  it  was  an  evil  by  no  means 
limited  to  that  country.  We  of  the  United  States,  have 
often  been  charged  with  being  worshippers  of  the  almighty 
dollar.  Nevertheless  I  feel  that  Germany  unquestionably 
was  the  chief  of  sinners  in  this  respect  and  that  her  system 
of  education  and  her  devotion  to  commerce  and  industry 
made  her  forget  the  earlier  idealism  which  characterized 
her  life. 

Germany's  attempt  to  inculcate  patriotism  in  all  her  in- 
stitutions, educational,  social,  political  and  military,  is 
worthy  of  serious  consideration  at  a  time  when  the  world 
is  stirred  with  a  new  born  feeling  of  nationalism;  for  we 
have  a  strong  revival  of  nationalism  in  the  world  despite 
efforts  towards  internationalization.  The  virtue  of  pa- 
triotism, in  Germany,  was  exaggerated  and  distorted.  A 
false  idea  of  the  State  and  its  nature  was  taught  by  its 
professors.  The  theory  of  sovereignty  was  developed  by 
them  into  a  denial  of  all  responsibility  by  the  State  and  a 
repudiation  of  all  obligations  inconsistent  with  its  interests. 
Had  German  professors  not  taught  that  Deutschland  was 
above  everything,  that  once  proud  nation  would  not  have 
fallen  so  low.  Nations  must  recognize  that  above  and 
paramount  to  them  is  a  law  governing  their  relations  and 
that  to  it  obedience  is  morally  and  legally  due.  Doubtless 
individual  citizens  and  subjects  must  ever  look  up  to'  their 
own  nation  as  supreme  and  absolutely  sovereign  over  them. 
The  duty  of  obedience  to  government  and  the  love  of  coun- 
try must  be  more  and  more  preached  and  practiced,  but 
the  events  of  recent  years  show  how  much  every  person 
owes  it  to  his  country  to  influence  its  policy  and  conduct 
so  as  to  cause  the  recognition  and  observance  by  it  of  the 
rights  of  other  nations.  This  does  not  mean  that  we  should 
subordinate  our  own  nation  to  others.  It  means  exactly 
the  contrary;  that  we  should  recognize  them  as  free  and 
equal.  I  believe  in  the  independence  of  nations.  I  am  op- 
posed to  the  League  of  Nations  as  presented  to  the  Senate 

30 


by  President  Wilson.  It  is  a  snare  and  delusion ;  a  repudia- 
tion of  international  law;  the  confirmation  of  political  in- 
trigue; the  destruction  of  the  equality  of  States;  the  en- 
thronement of  imperialism;  the  violation  of  the  American 
conscience;  the  endorsement  of  treachery  towards  one  of 
our  Allies  and  the  approval  of  treaty  provisions  which  are 
inconsistent  with  the  principles  that  we  declared  upon  en- 
tering the  war,  and  which  are  inimical  to  permanent  peace. 

But  the  more  a  nation  is  independent,  the  more  it  is  in- 
cumbent upon  it  to  teach  its  citizens  to  respect  the  rights  of 
other  nations.  It  should  insist  on  the  allegiance  of  its  citi- 
zens and  it  should  foster  love  of  country ;  but  it  should  also 
teach  the  obligations  that  we  owe  to  citizens  of  other  coun- 
tries and  should  promote  love  of  humanity.  True  patriot- 
ism prompts  the  desire  that  one's  country  should  be  right- 
eous as  well  as  strong.  We  hear  much  of  Americanism 
and  the  necessity  of  stimulating  it.  What  is  Americanism? 
The  late  Senator  Hoar,  an  American  of  New  England  stock 
belonging  to  one  of  the  families  longest  resident  in  this 
country,  uttered  a  wise  counsel  as  well  as  a  noble  senti- 
ment when  he  said:  "May  I  never  place  my  country's 
interest  above  my  country's  honor."  For  nearly  a  century, 
we  Americans  have  proudly  repeated  Commodore  Deca- 
tur's famous  toast :  "Our  Country,  may  she  ever  be  in  the 
right;  but  our  Country,  whether  right  or  wrong!"  Prac- 
tically the  individual  citizen  must  ever  act  upon  this  prin- 
ciple, for  the  will  and  the  opinion  of  one  cannot  in  such 
matters  be  paramount  to  that  of  the  majority. 

There  is,  however,  another  sentiment,  not  inconsistent 
with  Decatur's  but  complementary  to  it,  which  should  also 
guide  us  in  all  our  conduct.  It  found  expression  in  the 
words  of  Carl  Schurz,  a  naturalized  American,  who  served 
this  country  faithfully  and  efficiently  on  battlefield,  in  dip- 
lomatic post,  Cabinet  council,  and  Senate  chamber,  and 
who  was  one  of  the  most  helpful  and  healthful  influences 
in  the  reform  of  our  political  methods.  His  words  were: 
"Our  Country,  may  she  ever  be  in  the  right;  but  if  she  is 
not  in  the  right,  it  is  our  duty  to  set  her  right." 

Personally  I  believe  all  genuine  lovers  of  their  country 
will  admit  that  while  we  must  detest  those  who  merely 
expose  their  country's  faults  without  effort  to  correct  them, 
we  must  cease  to  regard  as  patriots  only  those  who  laud 
and  praise  their  country  and  who  seek  to  justify  it  in  what- 

31 


ever  it  does.  We  must  realize  that  those  who  strive  to 
correct  national  faults  are  really  the  ones  who  are  making 
their  country  better.  It  is,  however,  also1  incumbent  upon 
us,  and  at  this  moment,  in  my  opinion,  is  of  supreme  im- 
portance, that  we  rightly  estimate  the  virtues  of  our  coun- 
try, the  value  of  its  institutions,  the  advantages  of  our  form 
of  government  and  the  blessings  of  the  Constitution  under 
which  we  live;  that  we  cultivate  respect  and  love  for  all 
these  things;  that  from  press,  pulpit,  platform  and  parlor, 
school  and  shop,  factory  and  field,  we  proclaim  the  essen- 
tial soundness  of  our  political  and  social  principles  and  our 
absolute  need  of  them  to  secure  individual  liberty  and  pub- 
lic order;  that,  in  this  way,  we  combat  the  errors  of  those 
who  disparage  or  discredit  them  in  word  and  thought; 
that  we  punish  those  who,  by  violence,  seek  to  overthrow 
them;  and  that  we  put  in  restraint  those  who  counsel  the 
use  of  force  instead  of  the  appeal  to  reason  in  order  to 
bring  about  changes  in  government. 

It  is  also*  necessary  that  we  do>  not  under  value  our  inde- 
pendence, nor  forget  the  blessings  it  has  conferred  upon 
other  nations  as  well  as  upon  our  own.  The  need  of  the 
hour  is  to  develop  both  the  American  conscience  and  the 
American  consciousness,  and  then  to  see  that  America  acts 
in  accordance  with  the  dictates  of  her  conscience  and  her 
judgment;  that  in  foreign  affairs  she  is  neither  controlled 
or  hampered  by  covenants  with  other  nations,  many  of 
whose  recentlv  revealed  secret  treaties  and  whose  interna- 
tional  acts  have  been  such  as  not  to<  justify  her  in  accept- 
ing them  as  keepers  of  her  conscience  or  as  arbiters  of  her 
destiny ;  and  that  in  domestic  matters  her  highest  aim  shall 
ever  be  to  give  to>  all  her  citizens  a  fair  and  equal  oppor- 
tunity for  the  fullest  personal  development  and  the  attain- 
ment of  the  highest  happiness. 

Another  feature  of  German  university  education  which 
deserves  our  attention  because  of  its  effect  upon  national 
character,  is  the  lack  of  what  we  call  college  life,  the 
want  of  college  loyalty.  The  absence  of  the  latter  is  largely 
due  to  the  fact  that  few  German  students  take  their  com- 
plete course  at  one  university.  Frequently  they  go  for  one 
year  to*  a  university  whose  corps  life  they  wish  to  enjoy, 
then  for  another  year  or  two  to  one  whose  professors  are 
pre-eminent  in  certain  studies  which  they  wish  to  pursue, 
then  for  a  final  year  to  another  university  where  other 
studies  are  supposedly  better  taught.     The  teaching  staffs 

32 


of  German  universities  before  the  war  never  sought  to 
develop  character.  Whatever  was  done  in  this  way  was 
by  the  student  organizations  called  corps,  which  in  many 
respects  resemble  American  college  fraternities.  With  some 
cherished  traditions  and  highly  prized  associations  they  in- 
fluenced those  who  belonged  to  them  but  their  membership 
being  limited  in  number  they  did  not  directly  affect  all  the 
students.  They  were  aristocratic  rather  than  democratic; 
they  tended  to  divide  the  student  body  into  small  groups 
with  special  interests  rather  than  to  consolidate  it  into  a 
unit  with  a  common  spirit.  Moreover  the  German  univer- 
sity does  not  have  annual  classes  such  as  we  have  in  Amer- 
ica; the  comradeship  of  classmate  is  unknown.  There  are 
generally  speaking  no  college  sports,  no  organized  univer- 
sity social  activities.  The  evil  incident  to  the  excessive 
attention  to  these  matters  in  American  colleges  is  admit- 
ted by  all ;  but  when  they  are  properly  controlled  the  good 
resulting  from  them  far  outweighs  the  evil.  The  difference 
between  the  average  age  of  the  student  bodies  in  America 
and  Germany  necessitates,  it  is  true,  different  forms  of 
associations  and  methods.  Yet,  all  in  all,  one  is  forced  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  entire  absence  of  the  features  of  col- 
lege life  that  I  have  mentioned  has  a  certain  tendency  to 
prevent  the  development  of  the  sense  of  fellowship,  the  hu- 
man sympathy,  the  tact,  the  habit  of  mutual  give-and-take, 
the  ability  to  understand  others,  which  are  so  absolutely 
essential  to  men  in  a  world  of  men.  One  is  constrained 
to  believe  that  this  is  probably  one  of  the  causes  of  the 
failure  of  Germany's  leaders  to  understand  the  psychology 
of  others  and  to  be  understood  by  them,  although  we  must 
remember  that  even  the  Kaiser  himself  attempted  to  in- 
crease acquaintance  between  the  scholars  of  his  country  and 
our  own  by  his  encouragement  of  exchange  professorships. 

Incidentally  I  have  already  spoken  somewhat  of  features 
of  English  university  life.  A  brief  specific  reference  to  it 
is,  however,  necessary  to  a  comprehensive  treatment  of 
my  subject.  I  feel  that  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  quote 
from  former  Ambassador  Bryce,  so  long  the  Regius  Pro- 
fessor in  Civil  Law  at  Oxford.  Perhaps  before  giving  you 
his  enthusiastic  words  of  praise  of  the  universities  of  his 
own  land,  I  ought  to  acquit  him  of  the  charge  that  may 
possibly  be  preferred  against  him  of  being  prejudiced,  by 
saying  that  no  person  before  the  war  more  highly  praised 
the  amplitude  of  the  provision  for  instruction  in  German 

33       ' 


universities,  the  learning  of  their  professors,  the  complete- 
ness with  which  their  teaching  was  brought  to  bear  upon 
every  department  of  practical  life,  and  the  value  for  this 
purpose  of  the  full  knowledge  and  the  exact  training  given 
by  them .  Comparing  England's  universities  with  them, 
he  wrote: 

"Although  the  great  scientific  discoveries  of  the  last 
century  are  due  to  Englishmen,  in  recent  years  these 
universities  have  not  contributed  to  original  research 
either  in  natural  science  or  humanistic  subjects  as  have 
those  of  Germany.  Less  completely  organized  for 
the  purposes  of  instruction,  they  educate  a  smaller 
proportion  of  the  population.  Since  the  Reformation 
they  have  been  for  the  most  part  places  of  resort  for 
the  upper  and  middle  classes,  and  it  is  only  within  the 
last  thirty  years  that  they  have  been  rendered  easily 
accessible  to  the  promising  and  diligent  youth  of  the 
poorer  sections  of  society.  But  they  have  had  con- 
spicuous merits. ,  The  ideal  is  not  to  fit  a  man  for  a 
particular  walk  in  life  but  to  give  a  general  education 
which  will  fit  him  to  be  a  worthy  member  of  church 
and  commonwealth.  They  have  sought  to  develop 
men  as  men,  to<  create  or  develop  the  well-rounded  and 
harmonious  character,  one  of  symmetrical  complete- 
ness. In  aiming  at  this  they  have  thought  not  only 
of  learning  or  the  powers  of  the  speculative  intellect, 
but  also'  of  the  aptitudes  which  find  their  scope  in 
practical  life,  and  which  enable  a  man  to  work  use- 
fully with  other  men  and  to  exercise  a  wholesome  in- 
fluence in  the  commodity.  They  have  long  been  asso- 
ciated with  the  public  life  of  England,  and  the  gradu- 
ates of  each  of  them  gratefully  acknowledge  their  in- 
debtedness to  their  alma  mater.  The  debt  is  not  so 
much  the  knowledge  acquired  or  even  the  power  of 
public  speaking.  It  is,  perhaps,  rather  the  knowledge 
of  human  nature,  the  tact  and  judgment,  the  sense  of 
honor  and  comradeship,  which  daily  social  intercourse 
in  the  colleges  tends  to  form,  the  result  of  the  domestic 
life  which  brings  the  students  close  together.  The 
undergraduates  dine  together  in  the  same  hall  with 
the  graduates,  worship  at  the  same  chapel,  have  their 
sports  together.  They  form  friendships  and  learn  as 
much  from  each  other  as  from  their  teachers.  There 
is  an  easy  and  familiar  intercourse  between  the  stu- 

■      34 


dents  and  the  teachers,  especially  the  younger  teach- 
ers. There  is  what  we  call  an  atmosphere,  that  intel- 
lectual and  social  tone  which  forms  manners  and  re- 
fines tastes  and  strengthens  characters  by  traditions  in- 
herited from  a  long  and  splendid  past." 

This  was  said  several  years  before  the  war.  How  nobly 
during  that  awful  struggle  the  academicians  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  conducted  themselves.  How  eagerly  they  of- 
fered their  lives  for  their  country.  At  the  first  bugle's  blast 
these  classic  halls  were  emptied.  The  University  men  were 
among  the  very  first  of  all  Englishmen  to  give  proof  of  pa- 
triotic feelings;  and  they  "carried  on."  The  lack  of  scien- 
tific training  at  times  put  them  to  some  disadvantage,  but 
idealism  and  initiative  gave  them  the  will  to  dare  and  the 
power  to  conceive. 

It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  generalize  as  to  American  in- 
stitutions of  higher  learning,  so  numerous  are  they,  so 
varied  in  type,  so  different  in  their  methods  as  well  as  in 
their  environment.  Yet  as  a  rule,  they  all  have  a  distinctive 
American  college  life.  In  every  one  of  them,  however 
numerous  the  courses  of  study  and  however  complete 
the  equipment,  the  association  of  students  with  each  other 
in  class  and  in  fraternity  and  the  sense  of  filial  relationship 
to  the  college  are  considered  to  be  amongst  the  most  pow- 
erful factors  in  the  training  of  their  minds  as  well  as  in 
the  development  of  their  characters.  The  life  of  almost 
every  American  College  is  such  that  the  institution  becomes 
to  the  student  a  living  thing,  the  object  of  affection  and  en- 
dearment. Little  though  it  be,  it  is  loved,  to  paraphrase 
Daniel  Webster's  famous  utterance  in  the  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege case.  The  college  becomes  the  "Alma  Mater"  the 
dear  old  mother.  Thus  the  sweetest  of  words  are  used  to 
express,  and  the  strongest  of  all  human  ties  are  used  to 
symbolize,  the  most  endearing  and  the  most  enduring  of  the 
influences  to  which  youth  is  subjected.  I  remember  that 
when  I  was  an  undergraduate  at  Hamilton  College,  an 
alumnus  who  recognized  the  universality  of  this  sentiment 
which  regards  the  college  as  "dear  mother,"  but  who  ques- 
tioned its  value,  offered  a  prize  for  the  best  poem  on  col- 
lege life  which  would  not  contain  the  words  "Alma  Mater." 
This  man  was  wrong  in  his  evaluations.  Our  symbols  often 
stand  for  that  which  is  most  real  in  our  lives ;  our  metaphors 
frequently  are  the  clearest  expression  of  our  true  feelings. 

35 


"Alma  Mater"  is  the  epitome  of  American  college  life.  It 
gathers  within  itself  all  the  ideas  of  fraternity  and  society, 
of  class  comradeship  and  college  spirit — all  of  obligation 
and  duty,  of  affection  and  devotion.  It  is  akin  to  the  idea 
that  native  land  is  ''mother-country."  Patriotism  is  noth- 
ing but  the  full  flower  of  it.  It  was  Horace,  the  poet  whom 
every  college  man  reads,  who  said :  "Dulce  et  decorum  est 
pro  patria  mori,"  It  is  not  strange  that  the  spirit  of  pa- 
triotism was  exemplified  in  the  late  war  so  whole-heartedly, 
so  self-sacrificingly,  by  millions  of  men,  but  by  none  with 
more  spontaneity,  more  zeal,  and  more  fortitude,  than  the 
thousands  who  went  out  from  college  walls,  bidding  good- 
bye to  alma  mater,  and  singing  as  their  dedicatory  hymn 
to  Mother  Country : 

"Common  mother  of  us  all, 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 
Our  faith,  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 
Are  all  with  thee,  are  all  with  thee." 

Today  the  War  is  over  so  far  as  armed  strife  is  con- 
cerned. Great  as  were  the  struggles  and  sacrifices  of  the 
contest  they  called  for  no  more  strength  or  effort  than  do 
the  mighty  tasks  which  we  must  undertake  today.  The 
marshalling  of  our  military  forces,  the  planning  of  our 
campaigns,  the  winning  of  victory  for  us  and  our  Allies, 
necessitated  no>  greater  talent  or  training  nor  any  higher 
degree  of  courage  or  fortitude,  than  does  the  great  work 
of  reorganization  and  reconstruction.  Not  only  have  we 
gigantic  physical  tasks  to1  perform  in  repairing  vast  dis- 
tricts that  have  been  devastated,  in  reviving  industries  and 
in  re-establishing  commerce,  but  we  also  have  political  and 
social  problems  that  are  at  once  profound  and  perplexing. 
It  is  frequently  said  that  we  live  in  a  New  World.  That 
statement  is,  however,  full  of  error,  and  those  who>  base 
their  plans  for  reorganization  upon  it  are  foolish.  They 
will  fall  into  such  an  abyss  that  they  will  very  greatly 
doubt  whether  they  are  living  in  the  World.  I  need  not 
specify  what  the  name  of  the  abyss  is,  except  to  say  that 
disillusioned  optimists  will  realize  that  it  is  not  Heaven. 
We  may  as  well  face  the  facts.  To  do  so  is  not  to  be  cyni- 
cal; it  is  merely  to  be  sensible.  Since  the  war,  as  before  it, 
we  live  in  a  very  old  world— as  old  as  the  temptation  of 
Eve,  the  fall  of  Adam  and  the  killing  of  Abel  by  his  brother 
— an  old  world  in  which  there  still  dwells  that  oldest  of 

36 


citizens,  Mr.  "Old  Man  of  the  Flesh."  Beyond  question 
the  war  stimulated  spiritual  life;  but  it  also  stirred  up 
bestial  passions  and  it  engendered  new  hatreds  and  rivalries. 
We  must  appeal  to  the  best  in  men;  we  must  steadily  strive 
to  make  men  better;  but  if  we  forget  that  there  is  still 
much  evil  in  men  and  in  groups  of  men — classes,  masses, 
nations  and  races — we  will  merely  make  the  best  of  men 
the  victims  of  evil  men. 

We  do,  however,  live  in  a  greatly  changed  world, — one 
in  which  races  have  been  thrown  into  unheard-of  rela- 
tions with  each  other,  in  which  nations  have  been  hurled 
down  and  other  nations  built  up,  in  which  class  conscious- 
ness has  been  immensely  increased,  in  which  customs  and 
habits  and  institutions  and  constitutions  have  been  much 
altered. 

Not  only  do  we  live  in  a  changed  world,  but  in  a  chang- 
ing one, — a  world  in  a  condition  of  unrest,  topsy-turvy,  in 
a  whirl,  dizzy  and  dazed.  The  changes  that  have  been 
made  and  those  that  are  being  advocated  present  to  man- 
kind problems  such  as  never  before  tested  its  mental  and 
spiritual  strength.  Many  visionary  schemes  have  been  pro- 
posed, many  pernicious  suggestions  have  been  made,  many 
fallacious  theories  are  being  advanced;  on  the  other  hand 
there  have  been  some  honestly  conceived  plans  and  some 
widely  considered  proposals.  Great  are  our  perils  but  great 
also  are  our  possibilities.  We  cannot  shut  our  eyes  to  the 
fact  that  if  we  are  not  to  wander  into  paths  which  may 
lead  us  into  bottomless  pits,  if  on  the  other  hand  we  are 
not  to  fall  short  of  the  very  mountain  tops  of  human  at- 
tainment whence  we  may  look  over  into  The  Promised 
Land,  we  need  to  walk,  with  the  lamp  of  experience  for  our 
feet,  with  the  light  of  reason  shining  in  our  face  and  with 
the  star  of  hope  guiding  us  onward.  To  select  the  true, 
to  reject  the  false,  to  hold  fast  to  that  which  has  proved 
to  be  good,  to  seek  nothing  in  its  place  until  it  gives  sure 
promise  of  being  better,  to  adapt  ourselves  to  conditions 
that  have  actually  changed,  to  create  new  agencies  if  really 
needed,  and  to  fit  ourselves  individually  and  collectively  for 
the  work  at  hand, — this  is  the  great  task  of  mankind.  It 
will  require  all  the  stored-up  wisdom  of  the  ages  and  all 
the  intelligence  of  open,  active  and  liberal  minds.  It  will 
necessitate  a  general  extension  of  education,  a  far  wider 
diffusion  of  knowledge,  a  learning  broader  in  its  scope  and 
more  profound  in  its  research. 

37 


Here  in  the  United  States  as  well  as  in  practically  every 
other  nation  of  the  world,  these  complex  problems  are  to 
be  solved  by  democracies.  Millions  of  men,  and  also  mil- 
lions of  women  who  have  not  hitherto  participated  in  the 
direction  of  government,  either  directly  or  through  their 
chosen  representatives,  are  to  work  out  the  answers  to 
these  questions  that  so  vitally  affect  all  mankind.  The 
masses,  not  the  select  few,  are  to  be  responsible  for  the 
principles  which  will  be  followed  and  the  policies  which  will 
be  adopted.  How  great  the  need  of  universal  popular  edu- 
cation of  the  highest  type  and  of  the  most  varied  character ! 
How  absolute  the  demand  for  the  development  of  the  char- 
acter of  every  individual  citizen !  More  than  ever  he  is  to 
be  a  ruler.  He  must  have  the  training  of  the  ruler,  or 
democracy  fails  and  with  it  our  hopes. 

In  the  War  we  learned  the  lesson  of  military  prepared- 
ness, perhaps  not  all  the  lesson.  No  less  important  is  pre- 
paredness in  and  for  peace.  The  peoples  of  the  World 
must  prepare  themselves  for  the  tremendous  tasks  that  lie* 
immediately  ahead  of  them.  Great  results  are  obtained 
only  by  the  nations  that  think  beforehand,  determine  in 
advance  their  policies,  equip  themselves  for  carrying  them 
into  execution.  Nine-tenths  of  wisdom,  it  has  been  said, 
consists  in  being  wise  in  time.  The  demand  of  the  world 
in  every  field  of  activity  is  for  such  previous  preparation 
as  will  ensure  efficient  action  at  the  instant  that  action  is 
required.  Nowhere  more  than  in  England  and  the  United 
States  was  there  greater  need  of  a  revision  of  ideas  as  to 
the  need  of  special  training  or  preparation  for  given  tasks. 
England,  long  the  leader  in  industry,  long  in  possession  of 
the  markets  of  the  world,  had  before  the  war  become  self- 
satisfied  and  unwilling  to  learn  new  methods.  She  had 
neglected  vocational  and  technical  training  until  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world  were  slipping  from  her  grasp  and  her 
maritime  supremacy  was  threatened.  We,  of  America, 
for  many  years,  had  succeeded  and  prospered  because  of 
the  marvelous  richness  of  our  resources  and  the  multiplic- 
ity of  our  opportunities  and  the  lack  of  keen  competition 
from  abroad.  We  boasted  of  American  adaptability,  of 
our  ability  to  do  anything  to  which  our  hand  turned.  We 
fancied  that  any  of  us  could  do  anything  sufficiently  well 
without  any  previous  training.  Perhaps  the  most  distrust- 
ful of  our  countrymen  as  to  this  universal  capability  was 
the  one  in  the  story  who,  when  asked  if  he  could  play  the 
piano,  answered:     "I  do  not  know,  I  never  tried."    World 

38 


competition  and  the  challenge  of  the  great  war  have  altered 
our  views  and  we  realize  now  the  need  of  special  training 
for  every  task,  the  necessity  of  systematic  study  under 
skilled  and  experienced  teachers.  The  people,  therefore, 
are  making  increased  demands  upon  their  colleges  and  uni- 
versities. 

Our  intellectual  horizon  has  widened  immensely  as  a  re- 
sult of  the  war.  Our  curricula  must  everywhere,  in  col- 
leges as  well  as  in  universities,  be  modified.  In  the  latter, 
at  least,  they  must  be  amplified.  Our  new  international 
relations  necessitate  a  much  more  universal  and  more  com- 
plete knowledge  of  international  law  and  international  po- 
lity and  of  the  history  of  other  nations  wherein  we  find 
revealed  that  which  more  and  more  must  become  a  de- 
veloped science,  international  psychology.  Changed  com- 
mercial conditions  demand  that  many  more  of  us  learn 
foreign  languages,  be  acquainted  with  foreign  customs, 
have  a  more  extended  knowledge  of  the  political  and  phy- 
sical geography  of  all  the  nations  of  the  world  and  of  the 
resources  and  needs  of  each.  Now  that  nations  are  the 
virtual  competitors  in  the  world's  markets,  how  increas- 
ingly important  has  become  the  study  of  political  economy 
and  of  international  finance  and  exchange.  How  essential, 
too,  because  of  the  keenness  of  competition,  is  thorough 
training  in  every  one  of  the  sciences  that  are  applicable  to 
industrial  production  as  well  as  all  those  that  relate  to  busi- 
ness organization,  commercial  methods  and  accounting. 
Considering  the  numerous  questions  as  to  the  relations  of 
classes  and  masses,  was  there  ever  a  time  in  all  mankind's 
progress  when  sociology  should  be  studied  more  profound- 
ly, more  honestly,  more  universally?  Was  there  ever  a 
moment  requiring  greater  vigilance  in  watching  every  de- 
velopment and  change  in  our  constitutional  system  and  in 
grounding  ourselves  in  the  principles  of  government  ?  With 
the  tremendous  increase  of  official  functions,  does  not  the 
science  of  government,  especially  of  administrative  govern- 
ment, take  on  an  importance  hard  to  overestimate?  In 
an  age  when  races  of  the  most  widely  differing  character- 
istics are  being  thrown  together  intimately,  can  ethnology 
remain  only  the  diversion  of  the  dilettante?  With  the 
strange  revelation  which  the  war  gave  of  man's  nobility  of 
soul  even  in  the  midst  of  fiendish  brutality,  should  not  the 
spiritual  be  a  field  of  study  and  of'  scientific  inquiry  of  the 
greatest  importance  and  the  greatest  interest?  Should  not 
moral  and  mental  philosophy,  ethics  and  religion  be  more 

39 


and  more  studied?  In  fact  as  men  come  closer  together 
and  the  corners  of  the  earth  are  brought  nearer  to  each 
other,  must  not  every  educated  man  say,  as  did  the  Roman 
poet:  "Nothing  that  affects  mankind  is  foreign  to  me?" 

In  the  last  quarter  of  the  last  century  the  changed  con- 
ception of  the  mission  of  the  institutions  of  higher  learn- 
ing in  a  democracy,  gave  birth  to  the  university  extension 
movement.  The  University  went  to  the  people.  It  estab- 
lished lecture  bureaus  and  correspondence  classes.  Public 
forums  were  opened;  popular  discussion  was  encouraged. 
Social  centers  were  created ;  libraries  were  put  in  circula- 
tion. Summer  courses  as  well  as  night  schools  were  in- 
augurated ;  college  credits  were  given  to  those  who  attended 
regularly  and  passed  the  prescribed  examinations.  In  this 
way  most  of  the  Universities  and  many  of  the  colleges  have 
been,  and  are  today,  endeavoring  to  raise  the  standard  of 
the  masses  and  to  prepare  them  for  their  duties.  Of  course 
there  are  dangers  in  the  extension  movement.  There  is 
the  possibility  of  superficiality  and  of  getting,  as  has  been 
said,  "the  second-rate  second-hand."  There  are  many  in- 
stitutions where  the  limitations  upon  successful  work  of 
this  kind  are  very  great.  As  a  rule  State  universities  can 
best  do  it;  but  speaking  generally,  with  the  increase  of 
democracy's  duties  the  need  becomes  more  imperative  for 
every  institution  to  try  to  fit  all  within  its  radius  of  action 
for  the  discharge  of  those  duties.  It  must  seek  facilities  to 
expand  its  work  within  its  walls  and  to  extend  extramurally. 

Can  our  institutions  of  higher  learning  meet  the  new  de- 
mands of  the  times?  I  feel  sure  that  they  can  and  that 
they  will.  It  will,  however,  be  necessary  for  them  to'  ap- 
preciate not  only  the  magnitude  of  the  task  but  also  its 
variety.  Everywhere  facilities  will  have  to  be  increased, 
equipment  perfected,  and  above  all  a  decent  standard  of 
salaries  fixed  for  the  teaching  and  administrative  staffs. 
Great  as  is  the  work,  it  does  not  call  for  the  establishment 
of  new  colleges.  There  are  over  six  hundred  in  the  United 
States  now.  The  strengthening  of  those  that  exist  is  the 
need.  In  undertaking  to  do  this  we  must  consider  the 
differences  in  the  conditions  in  the  various  colleges,  the 
variety  of  the  educational  needs  of  the  country  and  par- 
ticularly the  special  requirements  of  the  locality  or  con- 
stituency which  each  one  is  under  obligation  to*  serve.  Each 
institution  of  higher  learning  should  determine  the  radius 
of  its  activity  and  the  scope  of  its  work,  and  then  equip 
itself  thoroughly. 

40 


I  am  one  of  those  who  believe  that  there  is  a  place  for 
the  great  university  and  also  for  the  small  college,  and  that 
our  educational  system  will  be  perfected  when  the  two 
types  co-ordinate  their  work.  The  larger  portion  of  the 
young  men  and  women  of  the  country  have  neither  the 
financial  means  nor  the  inclination  to  take  strictly  cultural 
courses.  As  the  democratic  idea  spreads,  the  universities 
will  more  and  more  feel  it  to  be  their  duty  to  do  what 
they  can  to  broaden  the  lives  and  develop  the  minds  of  all 
who  can  be  reached  and  to*  fit  them  for  the  practical  duties 
of  life,  rather  than  to  give  the  highest  culture  to  the  com- 
parative few.  Those  universities  which  are  supported  by 
the  States  and  perhaps  others  which  are  richly  endowed, 
will  continue  to  offer  courses  in  most  of  the  subjects  of 
leraning  and  to  give  great  freedom  to'  students  in  their 
choice  of  studies.  Yet  where  they  are  not  sustained  by 
the  taxing-power  of  the  state,  I  believe  that  even  the  great 
universities  will  cease  to  attempt  to'  teach  everything  and 
that  in  higher  studies,  where  students  are  comparatively 
few,  they  will  avoid  unnecessary  duplication  of  work  and 
each  will  confine  itself  to'  teaching  that  which  it  can  teach 
best  by  reason  of  its  equipment  or  its  location. 

The  World,  it  is  said,  has  been  made  safe  for  democracy. 
But  in  this  year  of  its  triumph  democracy  faces  its  greatest 
trial.  It  has  to  demonstrate  that  it,  itself,  is  safe  for  the 
World.  In  our  thoughts  about  democracy  we  are  too  prone 
to  consider  only  the  first  part  of  the  word,  the  "demos," 
the  people,  the  multitude,  mass  action.  We  forget  that 
the  second  part  of  the  word,  the  "cracy"  states  its  essen- 
tial meaning  and  sets  forth  the  true  purpose  of  democracy, 
namely  to  rule,  to  govern,  to  direct.  The  greatest  need  of 
mankind  today  is  wise  leadership.  Without  this,  democracy 
is  anarchy.  That  leadership  must  be  representative  and  not 
personal,  with  a  division  and  not  a  centralization  of  power; 
otherwise  democracy  lapses  into  absolutism.  The  highest 
function  of  institutions  of  learning  today  is  to  teach  respect 
for  law  and  for  legally  established  authority,  to  instill  into 
the  minds  of  the  people  a  conception  of  the  necessity  of 
leadership  as  well  as  to  train  as  leaders  those  who  have  the 
necessary  natural  capacity.  In  my  opinion  this  is  a  field 
of  work  in  which  the  American  college  as  distinguished 
from  the  university, — the  small  college — can  render  spe- 
cially valuable  services.  The  training  of  leaders  requires, 
today  as  never  before,  education  in  those  subjects  which 

41 


the  small  colleges  have  taught  in  the  past  and  for  the 
broader  teaching  of  which  they  can,  with  comparative  ease, 
secure  additional  facilities. 

It  is  frequently  said  that  the  education  of  the  future  must 
relate  more  to  the  physical  and  applied  sciences,  that  in- 
struction in  them  is  necessary  to<  triumph  in  war  as  well 
as  to  win  in  the  industrial  competition  that  exists  today. 
We  realize  that  every  man  must  specialize  and  train  the 
faculty  in  which  by  nature  he  excels.  Yet  the  late  Great 
War  itself  and  the  things  that  led  up  to  it  show  that  edu- 
cation is  needed  in  other  things  than  the  physical  sciences. 
In  fact,  that  universal  struggle  was  a  fight  against  misap- 
plied science  and  in  particular  against  perverted  material 
science.  There  is  need,  now  more  than  ever,  of  education 
in  political  and  moral  sciences,  in  philosophy  and  psychol- 
ogy, in  history,  in  the  humanities.  The  war  taught  us  that 
morale  is  as  essential  to*  military  success  as  machines;  it 
revealed  to  us  the  strength  of  the  spirit  as  well  as  of  the 
sword;  it  taught  us  that  nations  have  souls  no  less  than 
the  individuals  which  compose  them.  Therefore  all  the 
studies  that  I  have  just  mentioned  have  become  of  added 
importance  to  us.  In  the  rendering  of  this  great  service 
to  humanity  I  know  of  no  better  agency  than  the;  small  col- 
lege,— institutions,  like  Hobart,  seeking  to  do  not  much  but 
to  do  thoroughly  what  they  attempt  to  do,  institutions  en- 
dowed with  high  ideals,  rich  in  glorious  traditions,  free 
from  state  control,  supported,  however,  by  men  of  public 
spirit,  officered  by  men  of  unselfish  devotion,  attended  by 
students  of  lofty  purpose  and  noble  aims.  This  historic 
college  so  charmingly  situated  on  the  shores  of  Seneca 
Lake, — this  college,  venerable  yet  virile — can,  I  am  sure, 
look  forward  to  a  future  of  ever-increasing  usefulness,  de- 
veloping in  the  main  along  the  old  lines,  expanding  and 
broadening  but  never  spreading  out  thin,  giving  the  general 
education  rather  than  the  special,  the  cultural  rather  than 
the  professional. 

The  field  of  educational  work  is,  indeed,  immense;  the 
opportunities  are  infinite.  In  these  dark  days  when  we 
seek  to  solve  the  problems  that  loom  up  so  portentous, — 
the  readjustment  of  international  relations,  the  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  world,  the  reconciliation  of  the  conflicting  claims 
of  capital  and  labor,  the  adaptation  of  old  methods  and  in- 
stitutions to  new  conditions,  the  realization  of  democracy's 
great  mission,  the  preservation  of  the  fundamental  prin- 

42 


ciples  of  social  and  political  welfare, — it  is  to  the  colleges 
and  the  universities  that  the  people  turn  as  to  beacons  of 
light.  They  are  not  only  agencies  of  democracy,  but  ex- 
amples of  it,  for  they  help  men  by  teaching  them  how  to 
help  themselves.  The  world  today  looks  to  its  college-men 
for  the  spirit  of  progress  born  of  the  knowledge  that  con- 
stantly seeks  better  things;  for  the  spirit  of  conservatism 
born  of  the  wisdom  derived  from  the  lessons  of  the  past 
that  warn  against  rash  experiments  and  hasty  expedients; 
and  finally  for  the  spirit  of  truth,  the  ceaseless  striving  for 
the  real  and  the  eternal. 

Nothing  is  more  needed  today  than  that  conscientious 
search  for  the  truth  and  that  fearless  expression  of  it  which 
characterize  true  academic  freedom.  Thorough  as,  in 
many  respects,  was  the  work  done  in  the  German  universi- 
ties, we  now  see  that  governmental  control  of  them, — the 
repression  of  the  truth  and  the  warped  statement  of  his- 
torical and  philosophical  doctrine  under  official  pressure  or 
inducement, — was  one  of  the  greatest  evils  from  which  that 
nation  suffered  and  one  of  the  most  potent  causes  of  the 
recent  world  catastrophe.  That  America's  educational  sys- 
tem may  not  fall  into  this  danger  but  that  she  may  ever 
have  a  great  number  of  colleges  free  from  all  political  domi- 
nation is  our  earnest  prayer.  This  search  for  the  truth  is, 
indeed,  the  purpose  of  all  education ;  it  is  the  goal  of  all  hu- 
man endeavor.  If  I  were  to  give  a  motto  to  this  college 
for  its  teachers  and  its  students,  it  would  be  those  fine 
words  of  one  of  the  purest-minded  patriots  who  ever  came 
to  this  country  :  "Seek  the  truth  without  prejudice ;  speak 
the  truth  without  fear."  Were  all  the  colleges  to  adopt 
this  motto  and  all  their  sons  and  daughters  to  observe  it, 
these  institutions  would  become  the  most  serviceable  of  all 
human  agencies,  solving  the  problems  of  these  after- war 
days  and  so  directing  the  minds  of  men  that  future  wars 
would  be  avoided;  and  the  future  of  humanity  would  be 
forever  secure. 


43 


LIBERTY  AND  LAW. 

An  Address  at  the  x\nnual  Banquet  of  the  School  of  Law 
of  George  Washington  University,  April  13,  1920,  by 

Wendell  Phillips  Stafford, 

Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 

and  Professor  of  Law  in  the  George  Washington 

University. 
Mr.  Toastmaster: 

I  am  going  to  speak  to  you  for  a  little  while  this  evening 
on  a  very  large  subject,  ''Liberty  and  Law."  Really  it  is 
the  only  subject  upon  which  a  lawyer  ever  can  speak,  be- 
cause the  whole  history  of  law  consists  in  nothing  more 
than  a  series  of  adjustments  between  liberty  and  law.  It 
makes  no  difference  whether  you  are  speaking  of  law 
in  the  narrow  sense  or  in  the  broad  sense.  It  makes  no 
difference  whether  you  are  speaking  of  law  in  the  sense  in 
which  we  lawyers  use  it  or  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  used 
by  scientists,  philosophers  and  theologians.  The  prop- 
osition holds  good  just  the  same.  Let  us  see  if  it  is 
not  so.  Suppose  we  begin  with  the  mineral  and  vegetable 
worlds.  Does  any  man  question  that  here  everything  is 
governed  and  directed  by  law  There  is  no  such  thing  as 
liberty  in  these  worlds.  The  will  of  the  Father  is  supreme 
and  unresisted.  Law  rules.  In  the  purely  animal  world 
it  is  essentially  the  same.  What  we  call  instinct  is  only 
the  manifestation  of  the  Father's  will.  It  is  only  the  oper- 
ation of  law.  The  beast  obeys,  but  he  does  it  blindly  and 
instinctively,  not  as  a  matter  of  choice.  In  these  lower 
worlds  we  have  no  conflict  between  liberty  and  law  because 
it  is  all  law.  Conflict  there  is,  of  course — chemical  conflict, 
conflict  in  the  vegetable  world,  plant  crowding  out  plant, 
plant  living  upon  plant;  conflict  in  the  animal  world — fierce, 
unceasing  conflict,  species  preying  upon  species — yet  always 
in  obedience  to  law,  never  in  opposition  to  it.  But  when  we 
come  to  man  we  find  a  new  kind  of  conflict,  a  conflict  with 
law — a  conflict  within  himself.  Of  course  he  has  also  the 
same  kind  of  conflict  that  the  animals  have,  with  things 
outside  him.  But  he  has  a  fiercer  conflict  still  inside.  Be- 
cause he  found  out,  at  a  certain  stage  of  his  existence,  that 
he  could  disobey  the  Father  if  he  chose.  He  could  make  a 
law  for  himself  and  could  defy  the  law  that  was  laid  upon 
him  from  above.  And  he  did  it.  Then  began  a  conflict 
that  has  lasted  ever  since.  We  call  him  a  free  agent,  and 
yet  he  is  hedged  about  by  certain  laws  which  he  must  obey 

44 


if  he  would  live  at  all.  He  must  eat  and  drink  or  he  will 
die.  He  must  look  out  for  the  fire  or  he  will  be  burned.  He 
must  look  out  for  the  water  or  he  will  be  drowned.  He  is 
almost  completely  surrounded  by  barriers  of  law  that  he 
simply  cannot  pass  over.  Little  by  little  he  learns  what 
these  are  and  he  obeys  them  because  he  sees  that  the  price 
of  disobedience  is  more  than  he  can  afford  to  pay.  The 
wages  of  sin  is  literally  death.  There  are  other  laws  that 
are  no  less  real,  and  carry  penalties  no  less  deadly,  but  these 
he  does  not  understand  as  yet.  He  has  heard  them  with 
his  ears  but  he  has  not  taken  them  to  heart,  and  he  is  ready 
to  run  the  risk  of  disobeying  these.  The  punishment  comes 
in  course  of  time  but  it  may  be  so  long  in  coming  that  the 
connection  is  not  perceived.  Yet  even  in  these  cases  the 
wages  of  sin  is  death.  There  is  no  case  in  which  a  law  of 
God  is  disobeyed  in  which  there  does  not  follow  the  death 
of  something  akin  to  life.  Something  that  would  have  lived 
if  the  law  had  been  kept  has  ceased  to  live  or  has  never  come 
to  birth  because  the  law  has  been  broken. 

How  is  it  now  in  societies  of  men?  Here  another  agency 
is  at  work.  Individual  wills  are  striving  and  clashing  with 
one  another  and  there  is  no  such  conflict  among  the  beasts 
of  the  field  as  there  is  among  the  superior  beasts  called  men. 
But  when  we  look  at  the  matter  closely  we  see  that  there  is 
nothing  new  or  different  even  here.  It  is  the  same  old 
conflict  between  liberty  and  law.  Here  it  is  the  law  of  the 
universe  in  conflict  with  the  dictates  of  individual  selfishness. 
For  what  is  it  that  men  are  doing  when  they  try  to  live  to- 
gether peacefully  and  helpfully,  and  to  build  up  states  and 
nations  to  that  end?  They  are  merely  imitating  the  opera- 
tions of  nature,  obeying  the  Father's  will  by  attempting  to 
live  in  harmony  with  the  laws  of  His  universe.  They  are 
seeking  to  bring  unity  out  of  diversity,  harmony  out  of 
discord.    As  Browning  wrote: 

"A  people  is  but  the  attempt  of  many 
To  rise  to  the  completer  life  of  one/' 

We  see  then  a  little  of  what  Saint  Paul  meant  when  he  said, 
"The  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God."  They  were. 
The  Roman  State  of  Saint  Paul's  time  was  a  marvel  of 
human  law,  the  admiration  of  the  world  to  this  day.  And  if 
you  trace  government  back  to  the  beginning  you  see  even 
more  clearly  how  inevitable  and  providential  it  all  was. 
As  men  increased  in  numbers  it  became  necessary  that  they 
should  live  more  or  less  together,  and  only  those  societies 

45 


that  followed  certain  lines  of  conduct  could  survive.  The 
rest  went  to  the  wall  or  died  out.  For  one  thing  the  tribe 
that  had  the  best  leader  or  showed  the  best  team  work  would 
be  likely  to  get  the  better  of  the  others  and  supplant  them. 
And  so  the  race  entered  upon  that  long  road  of  social  prog- 
ress of  which  the  end  has  not  been  reached  even  yet.  It 
learned  by  hard  knocks  that  men  could  not  get  along  to- 
gether unless  they  were  willing  to  submit  to  some  sort  of 
control.  They  had  to  give  up  some  of  their  individual  lib- 
erty in  order  to  live  at  all.  It  was  a  case  of  a  half  loaf  being 
better  than  no  bread.  If  each  member  of  the  tribe  stood  out 
by  himself  he  stood  a  good  chance  of  being  killed  off  by 
the  neighboring  tribe.  But  if  the  whole  tribe  stood  to- 
gether, and  especially  if  it  picked  out  a  bright,  brave  man 
for  leader,  they  might  all  have  a  chance  to  live.  And  the 
same  thing  held  true  when  the  tribe  had  grown  into  the  na- 
tion. And  it  held  true  as  among  the  members  of  the  tribe, 
just  as  it  did  as  between  the  tribe  itself  and  other  tribes. 
For  one  member  or  one  family  might  take  more  than  be- 
longed to  it  unless  the  tribe  hung  together  and  laid  down 
a  few  rules  that  no  individual  and  no  family  could  be  al- 
lowed to  break.  So  just  as  man  the  individual  found ^that 
in  order  to  live  and  prosper  he  must  lay  upon  himself  ob- 
tain rules  of  conduct,  so  man  the  social  organism  found  that 
it  must  do  the  same.  And  every  such  rule  represented  a 
conquest  of  law  over  liberty.  Yet  it  was  in  the  interest  of 
liberty  after  all.  The  liberty  of  the  individual  was  sacri- 
ficed that  the  liberty  of  the  tribe  or  the  nation  might  be  se- 
cured. It  was  an  adjustment  between  liberty  and  law.  If 
the  law  was  a  good  law  it  was  because  it  was  made  in  the 
interest  of  the  whole.  If  it  was  a  bad  law  it  was  because 
it  was  made  in  the  interest  of  a  part — of  a  tyrant,  or  a 
family  or  a  class. 

Now  where  do  we  stand  today  in  this  course  of  develop- 
ment? In  all  the  countries  of  the  civilized  world  men  see 
and  acknowledge  the  necessity  for  law.  In  all  the  free 
countries  they  see  and  acknowledge  that  laws  ought  to  be 
made  in  the  interest  of  the  whole.  In  all  democratic  coun- 
tries they  see  and  acknowledge  that  the  laws  ought  to  be 
made  by  the  people  themselves.  We  are  in  no  danger  now 
from  any  king  or  single  despot  of  any  sort.  The  danger  in 
a  democracy  is  that  some  faction  or  group  may  get  control 
and  make  laws  in  its  own  interest,  or  interfere  with  the 
execution  of  the  people's  laws.  This  a  minority  can  do  if  it 
happens  to  possess  certain  advantages  over  the  majority. 
It  may  be  more  active  or  better  organized  or  better  led. 

46 


The  people,  the  great  majority,  m|ay  be  asleep  or  lazy  or 
indifferent  or  uninformed  or  unorganized,  or  their  repre- 
sentatives may  be  timid  or  even  cowardly  or  at  the  best  they 
may  be  unequal  to  their  task.  And  so  a  mere  minority  may 
be  allowed  to  flourish  a  club  over  the  head  of  government 
itself.  When  things  reach  such  a  pass  there  is  only  one 
remedy  left — a  rousing  call  to  the  people  themselves  to 
take  things  into  their  own  hands  once  more,  to  send  all 
timid,  time-serving,  incompetent  public  servants  home,  and 
to  call  out  the  strong  and  fearless  men,  the  upright  and 
clear-headed  men  to  take  their  place.  Such  men  there  are 
all  through  the  land.  They  will  come  out  if  they  are  called, 
and  when  the  crisis  comes  they  will  be  called,  they  must  be 
called,  there  is  no  other  way.  There  is  no  royal  road  to 
safety.  There  is  no  chance  or  hope  in  a  democracy  unless 
we  can  trust  the  honest  intelligence  of  the  millions  in  a  time 
like  this.  If  we  cannot  build  on  that,  we  have  nothing  left 
to  build  on.  Now  it  is  right  here  that  lawyers  have  a  chance 
to  be  of  some  real  use.  They  can  analyze  things.  They  can 
show  the  principles  that  are  involved.  They  can  point  out 
the  bounds  of  liberty  and  show  where  the  duty  of  obedience 
has  been  broken.  Every  lawyer  is  bound,  first  of  all,  to 
think  out  such  public  questions  for  himself,  earnestly,  clear- 
ly and  carefully,  and  then  to  give  the  public  the  benefit  of 
his  thinking.  It  cannot  be  expected  that  we  shall  all  think 
alike,  certainly  not  to  start  with,  but  we  can  never  hope  to 
think  alike  unless  we  all  set  about  thinking,  and  think  ear- 
nestly, clearly  and  carefully,  and  then  tell  our  fellows  what 
we  think,  and  tell  them  with  honesty  and  courage. 

We  have  seen  that  in  the  lowest  stages  of  existence  law 
is  supreme  and  unresisted;  that  in  the  world  of  human  ac- 
tivity free  will  comes  into  play  and  there  is  perpetual  con- 
flict requiring  adjustment  after  adjustment  between  liberty 
and  law.  But  this  is  not  the  end.  There  is  a  third  stage, 
and  here  once  more  the  conflict  ceases  and  law  becomes 
supreme  and  unresisted.  It  is  the  stage  in  which  the  will 
bows  freely  to  the  law  and  performs  it  with  a  whole  heart. 
In  the  individual  that  stage  is  reached  when  the  heart  ac- 
cepts the  will  of  God  as  revealed  in  lesus  Christ  and  desires 
nothing  but  to  act  in  accordance  with  that  will.  As  Tenny- 
son sang  with  all  reverence  :  , 

"Our  wills  are  ours  to  make  them  Thine." 

That  is  the  service  that  is  perfect  freedom.  That  is  the 
glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God.    It  is  real  obedience. 

47 


It  is  not  the  involuntary  obedience  of  the  plant.  It  is  not 
the  blind  obedience  of  the  beast.  It  is  not  the  slavish  obedi- 
ence of  fear.  It  is  the  glad  obedience  of  love,  eager  and 
swift  to  do  the  Father's  will.  But  you  say  we  cannot  look 
for  such  an  attitude  as  that  towards  anv  human  law.  Yet 
there  have  been  times  when  we  have  seen  something  like 
that — times  when  the  patriotic  heart  of  the  nation  has  beat 
in  perfect  unison  with  its  law,  and  men  have  not  asked 
what  they  must  do  for  their  country  but  only  what  they 
could  do  for  their  country.  The  ideal  state  is  the  devotion 
to  law  that  obeys  without  a  thought  of  penalty  or  compul- 
sion— obeys  the  law  out  of  pure  love  for  the  country  whose 
voice  the  law  is. 

This  university,  this  school  of  law,  has  a  great  treasure 
and  inspiration  in  the  name  it  is  permitted  to  bear,  the  name 
of  the  Father  of  his  Country.  Before  I  sit  down  let  me  ask 
you  for  one  moment  to  think  of  him.  He  won  our  inde- 
pendence for  us.  He  secured  for  us  a  Constitution,  the 
foundation  of  all  our  laws.  We  can  face  the  future  with 
confidence  and  gladness  if  only  we  can  live  true  to  the 
lessons  we  have  learned  from  him. 


48 


George  Washington  University 

Law  School 

GO-EDUCATIONAL 

Member  of  the  Association  ot  American  Law 
Schools.  Maximum  credit  by  other  schools.  Instruc- 
tion by  most  approved  methods  by  professional 
teachers  and  by  lawyers  in  active  practice. 

SUMMER  SESSION  1920 

June  21 — August  4 

Students  may  begin  the  study  of  law  during  the 
Summer  Session.  Regular  students  already  enrolled 
may  continue  their  work  for  the  degree  supplementing 
or  lightening  the  work  ot  the  regular  term.  Special 
students  are  also  admitted,  including  students  in  other 
law  schools. 

Subjects  for  the  Summer  Session  1920 

Equity,  Domestic  Relations,  Mortgages,  Municipal 
Corporations,  Personal  Property,  Principles  of  Legal 
Liability,  Quasi-Contracts  and  Sales. 

Classes  7  50-8.40  a.  m.  and  5.10-6.50  p.  m. 

Students  may  pursue  their  work  entirely  in  the 
late  afternoon  classes  from  5.10  to  6.50,  or  partly  in 
the  afternoon  and  partly  in  the  early  morning  classes. 

For  announcement  and  other  information  appli- 
cation should  be  made  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Law 
School,  New  Masonic  Temple,  Main  4540. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


3  0112110184626 


George  Washington  University 

Washington,  D.  C. 


er  School 


5ix-week  and  nine-week  courses 

Beginning  June  21,  1920 

5UBJLCT5  OF  INSTRUCTION 


Art 

Household  Economics 

Chemistry 

Law 

Economics 

Library  Science 

Education 

Mathematics 

English 

Philosophy 

French 

Physics 

Geography 

Political  Science 

Geology 

Psychology 

German 

Sociology 

History 

Spanish 

The  Summer  School  Bulletin,  giving  full  information,  will  be 

sent  upon  request 

ADDRESS  COMMUNICATIONS  TO 

DIRECTOR  SUMMER  5CHOOL     ' 

2023  G  STREET  NORTHWEST 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

For  announcement  of  Summer  Law  School 

seeprevious  page 


The  Reg-ular  Annual  Courses  of  the  University  for  the 
next  academic  year  will  beg-in  on  the  last  Wednesday  of 
September — September  29th. 


*T. 


